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Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1097204
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1097204
"QUEEN MARY'S BATH."
The tiny, irregular building (RCAHMS 1951, Figs. 302, 309, 310), popularly known as Queen Mary's Bath although it is in reality a lodge or pavilion, stands at the N. apex of the gusset enclosed by Abbey Strand, Abbeyhill and the modern approach to Palace Yard. It does not appear in the view of 1544 (Fig. 59) nor in the one that is attributed to Rowland Johnson and is published in Holinshed's Chronicles (1577); but Gordon of Rothiemay illustrates it in his pictorial map of 1647 and its position is more particularly shown in a survey of 1671, at which date it stood immediately beyond the N.W. corner of the King's Privy Garden with its entrance facing the "caichepelle," or tennis court, which lay about 20 yards to the S. From architectural evidence it can be dated to the last quarter of the 16th century, that is to say, to the first half of the reign of James VI. It is known to have been reconditioned in 1852, when a richly-inlaid dagger was found hidden in the boarding of the roof.
The shape of the building is best grasped from the plan (Fig. 309). It has only two storeys, and the masonry is rubble with dressings of freestone, slightly chamfered. The N. angle is rounded off and develops into a turret set out on an encorbelment of three members, shoulder-high from the ground, the two lower members continuing along the W. wall. Towards the N.E. angle part of the masonry overhangs and is borne on separate corbels of oak which, if not original, must be of some considerable age. The high, pyramidal, slated roof is flanked on two sides by tall chimney-stalks. The entrance, facing S.E., opens into a small lobby at the foot of a winding stair which is contained in a small annexe projecting from the main building and covered with a lean-to roof. A doorway opposite the entrance admits to the basement chamber. Irregular in shape, this little room is lit from N. and S.W. and has a fireplace in the N.E. wall. At the W. corner is a wide, arched recess, which shows signs of alteration. The floor is tiled. The cramped, winding stair opens into the S. corner of the upper room, and on the left of the entrance can be traced a built-up recess, the flooring in front of which can be moved to expose a cavity,7 ft. 4 in. long by 2 ft. wide, above the arched recess on the floor below. The cavity is thought to have contained a bath, but the arrangement rather suggests a place of concealment. The upper room is lit by a window in the turret and by two dormers. Beside the southernmost of these is a fireplace. The fabric has been repaired, and is now in the custody of the Ministry of Works.
RCAHMS 1951, visited c.1941
