Archaeology Notes

Event ID 714158

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/714158

NT48SE 1.00 47490 80428

NT48SE 1.01 4748 8044 Cists

NT48SE 1.02 4748 8038 Earthworks

(NT 47490 80428) Luffness House (NR)

OS 6" map (1908)

Luffness House: The present tower house of three storeys and an attic, built in the late 16th century by Sir Patrick Hepburn, forms a T whose short stem is a square turret, its first two storeys occupied by a turnpike stair. (Tranter considers that this incorporates remains of the great castle, of probable 13th century date, which stood here, being garrisoned by Edward II in 1311.) The stone inscribed S P H. I H. 1584, now on the SW bartizan turret, was probably originally set over the entrance. The first extensions were carried out by the Hope family, who bought Luffness in 1739. A row of rooms was added at the E end soon after 1802. In 1822, the SW angle of the 'T' was filled in with a small block designed by William Burn; in 1825 the kitchen was added to the NE, designed by Thomas Brown, who also designed the baronial wing added in 1841 to the W front (and demolished in 1959). The house was baronialised in 1846 by David Bryce. The main evidence surviving on the outside is the massive stone benches on each side of the new front door on the original E gable, and the triangular gables on the canted bay. In 1874, he added an elaborate gun-room wing, arcaded, dormered and turreted, forming something like a forecourt, and a stable court with an arched and battlemented screen wall standing slightly back from it. The saloon behind the gun room was designed in 1891, and a billiard-room added in 1907.

C McWilliam 1978; N Tranter 1962; RCAHMS 1924, visited 1913; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1892; RCAHMS AP Catalogue 1980

Luffness House was generally as described when seen in 1962 and 1975.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 21 November 1962 and (SFS) 13 August 1975.

Site of castle sacked in 1548, rebuilt as T-plan tower house in 1584. Many 19th century additions from 1822 to 1907. The sundials are dated to the 18th century.

Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 1996.

An Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. Vol 5, 150-154

Site recorded by GUARD during the Coastal Assessment Survey for Historic Scotland, 'The Firth of Forth from Dunbar to the Coast of Fife' 1996.