Archaeology Notes

Event ID 715172

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/715172

NT27SE 32.00 26664 73847

NT27SE 32.01 NT 26636 73858 Well

NT27SE 32.02 NT 267 738 Formal Gardens

(NT 2666 7384) Queensberry House (NR) (House of Refuge) (NAT)

OS 25"map, (1968)

Queensberry House appears to have been built in 1681 by Lord Hatton, and was conveyed by him to the 1st Duke Of Queensberry in 1686. After other changes of ownership, the House was purchased by the Board of Ordnance in 1803, and re-modelled as a barracks in 1808, an additional storey being added at that time. It has been a "House of Refuge for the Destitute" and a home for the aged for over a century.

RCAHMS 1951.

No change from previous information. The building is still in use. Visited by OS (S F S) 2 December 1975.

NT 267 738 Further excavation was undertaken in advance of engineering works and the insertion of services in Queensberry House. The foundations of a number of buildings were found to be preserved beneath the present floors, and these would appear to be related to the tenements that stood on the site prior to the construction of Queensberry House. The buildings were constructed of large squared stones bonded by mortar, with substantial foundations suggesting they stood several storeys high. The internal division of space within Queensberry House appears to have been heavily influenced by the medieval property divisions. Evidence was also recovered for the existence of a double frontage as depicted on Rothiemay's perspective of 1647.

Sponsor: Historic Scotland for the Scottish Executive.

C Moloney and R Coleman 2000