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Field Visit
Date 7 August 1928
Event ID 1098711
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1098711
Pitreavie House.
The lands of Pitreavie, which lie on the southern outskirts of Dunfermline, were bought in 1608 (1) by Henry Wardlaw of Balmule, who had succeeded William Shaw as Chamberlain to the Queen, Anneof Denmark. He was knighted in 1613 and created a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1631. As a royal official he was one of those employed in making a survey of the royal residences (2) and in the administration of the funds expended upon them. In 1614, when his lands were erected into a barony, the new grant specifies the "manorplace." (3) The original house was thus most probably built by him. It was of four storeys, the ground floor being vaulted. Comprising as it does a main block running east and west, with wings at either end returning northward in alignment with the gables and with a turnpike in each of the re-entrant angles, the plan closely resembles that of the slightly later house of Baberton in Midlothian.* This arrangement existed until 1885, when extensive alterations were made. The two lower storeys of the main block were then carried farther: south, while at the same time the southern gables of the wings were advanced and provided with bay windows. A porch was built at the north end of the east wing and a new wing was added on the eastern side of the house. Internally the house was modernised. The vaulting was removed, and the main staircase transferred from the west wing to the east. The north front is virtually unchanged, although certain windows have been closed and others altered.
The masonry is of fine ashlar-work coursed, and the windows have broad margins slightly back-set. The lowest part of the turrets is lit from narrow slits with small circular gun-loops in the sills; above the ground-floor the turrets are enlarged by means of an elaborate encorbellment, the upper member of which continued as a string over the whole front and may also have returned along the flanks. A panel on the upper part of the front, containing the Wardlaw arms, seems to be modern. On the inner face of each of the original wings a close garderobe is corbelled out at second-floor level. The old entrance, behind which hangs an iron" yett," is a fine Renaissance doorway with a triangular pediment having a star for finial and bearing between two garlands the initials S.H.W. linked with a ribbon, for Sir Henry Wardlaw. It opened through the inner face of the west wing into a small lobby giving access on the south to the kitchen, which was the westmost chamber of the main block, and through the well of the western turnpike to a passage, while directly in front was the main stair, which rose to the first floor.
On the basement floor, where the only detail of interest left is the arch of the old kitchen fireplace, the main block contained two large chambers of the full width of the block, one at each end, and three intermediate chambers shorter than the others by the width of the passage from which they were entered. In the east wing was a storeroom, originally unconnected with any other part of the house but approached through a doorway in the inner wall. This doorway, which resembled that of the main entrance, in relation to which it was symmetrically placed, has been removed. Whether the eastern turnpike ever descended to ground level is uncertain, but the western turnpike evidently did not. On the upper floors there were three chambers within the main block and one in each of the wings. Beneath the upper landing of the main stair was an arched and seated recess.
ENTRANCE GATE. The approach seems originally to have been from the west, where there is an avenue of fine old beeches. Rebuilt across the present approach is an arched gateway 10 feet wide. Its original position is unknown. In the upper part is included a scrolled dormer-pediment bearing a small cherub's head and the initials D.E.W. linked by a cord. These are for Dame Elizabeth Wilson, wife of the first Sir Henry Wardlaw (4).
RCAHMS 1933, visited 7 August 1928.
(1) The Wardlaws in Scotland, by John C. Gibson, p. 119. (2) Reg. Pr. Co., xi, p. 45, and passim; 2nd Series, iii, p. 101. (3) Reg. Mag. Sig., s.a., No. 1045. (4) The Wardlaws in Scotland p. 126. Cf. also Cast, and Dom. Arch, ii, p.537.
* See Inventory, Midlothian and West Lothian, No. 66.
