Distant view of castle through trees to South East. Digital image of D 47006/cn

Description Distant view of castle through trees to South East. Digital image of D 47006/cn

Date 26/4/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 764713

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 47006 CN

Scope and Content East Front, Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfries & Galloway The castle, built of pinkish local sandstone, is similar in plan to George Heriot's Hospital (now School), Edinburgh, which dates from the early 17th century. It is constructed around an open inner courtyard, with a round staircase turret at each corner of the courtyard, and a rectangular tower at each outer corner. The five-storeyed outer towers are carried one storey higher than the wings, and have balustraded flat lead roofs with pepperpot turrets arising from the corners. The east front, which overlooks the River Nith, is quite plain except for rope-moulded eaves-courses studded with cannon spouts at the roofline, and Y-shaped lead downpipes on the outer towers. The main wing contained the bedrooms and dressing rooms of the house as well as a corridor, an unusual provision for the period and a marked development in planning. The 1st Duke laid out great gardens around the house which, at one time, were considered among the finest in Scotland. The 2nd Duke improved on his father's work, creating major garden works including 'parterres, terraces, sloping banks, wildernesses, hedges and water works'. (The latter was a cascade, fragments of which still survive.) The 3rd Duke continued the improvements, forming a new bowling green and planting many trees, including bird cherry or gean, silver fir, Scotch fir, yew, oak and beech. Many of these were destroyed in a great storm in 1786, but substantially more were felled on the orders of the 4th Duke, a notorious rake nicknamed 'Old Q', who led a dissolute life in London at the expense of his Scottish estate. Before his death in 1810, he had almost the whole of the surrounding woodlands cut down. In 1819 Walter Francis, the 5th Duke of Buccleuch, succeeded to the title (becoming the 7th Duke of Queensberry) and, employing the foremost gardeners of the country, embarked upon an ambitious programme of replanting and improvements. Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, stands on a terraced platform within extensive parkland amongst the wooded hills of Nithsdale. The mansion was built between 1679 and 1690 for William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, incorporating part of a mid-16th-century house and the remains of a late 14th-century Douglas stronghold which originally stood on the site. The architect was almost certainly James Smith who had worked on the construction of Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, and the builder was William Lukup who is buried in Durisdeer churchyard nearby. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap