Standing Building Recording
Date February 2009
Event ID 963588
Category Recording
Type Standing Building Recording
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/963588
NO 25968 01833 Following a fire during renovation works in February 2009 a full survey of Leslie House was undertaken in November 2011. This included a general photographic survey and production of ground floor and cellar level plans by the RCAHMS; rectified photography of the fire-gutted interiors by Photarch Ltd, and a general analysis and historical assessment by Addyman Archaeology, the latter jointly with John Lowrey of the University of Edinburgh.
An examination of both physical and documentary evidence enabled the reassessment of the history of this highly important but little studied building. The accuracy of plans published in the 18th century in Vitruvius Scoticus was confirmed in their overall dimensions, planning and many individual details. Numerous features of the early building were recoverable, such as evidence for the ground floor interior sub-divisions within the northern pavilion, details of the two lost 17th-century stairs within the range, the positions of early fireplaces, entrances and windows, and the presence of numerous masons’ marks.
The combined study of several early inventories and other sources, and the Vitruvius Scoticus drawings, permitted a review of the architectural and historical importance of the house, home of the Earls (and 1st Duke) of Rothes, in the context of Restoration Scotland. The discovery of a large amount of un-catalogued material in the RCAHMS goes some way to explaining why it has not been previously investigated. This material was inaccessible for this study.
The existing building constitutes the remaining W range of the 1660s quadrangular palace by John and Robert Mylne, and Sir William Bruce, largely destroyed by a major fire in the mid-1760s. The archaeological evidence confirmed that this range had also been gutted by the fire, as well as the N, E and S ranges. What remains of the 1660s building is confined to the masonry fabric of the W (entrance) and N elevations, excepting the upper level, the western parts of the S elevation, and the central section only of the E elevation at ground and first floor levels, which fronted the former courtyard. Internally, little remained, except the four major E–W cross walls.
Following the demolition of the rest of the palace in the 1760s, the W range was retained, and comprehensibly remodelled externally and internally. This included a new axial passage at ground floor level, a new axial access between rooms at first floor level, newly formed paired staircases, and the raising of the wall heads to form a full height upper storey. The external walling to the E and SE was made good and the E frontage was regularised in a symmetrical distribution of fenestration.
Later alterations and extensions to the house were documented upon the drawn survey, informed by historic plans, including one set from 1954, previously undiscovered in the possession of a local Leslie history enthusiast. The historic plans enabled the tracing of alterations in the 19th and 20th centuries, especially those made around 1905 by the new 19th Earl. These show typical modernisation of the house for Edwardian country sports and entertainment.
Some consideration was made of the gardens and associated policies at Leslie, much newly revealed following clearance of undergrowth. Much of the built infrastructure of an important designed landscape survives, this is contemporary with the 1660s palace and probably influenced by Bruce. In the vicinity of the house this includes the entrance forecourt, a long flanking terrace to the S and, beyond this below the house, tiered walled terraced gardens.
Archive: RCAHMS
Funder: Sundial Properties
Addyman Archaeology, 2009
