View of south end of house from east Digital image of D 46965/cn

Description View of south end of house from east Digital image of D 46965/cn

Date 23/6/1999

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

Catalogue Number SC 764986

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 46965 CN

Scope and Content Dabton House, Drumlanrig Estate, Dumfries & Galloway, from the south This charming, two-storeyed country house is built of pink sandstone quarried on the estate. The principal entrance front (seen here) has three broad bays, with the central bay forming a narrow recess and roof carried over to form an unbroken line at the eaves. The entrance is through a broad, round-arched doorway, with a double door and an elegant fanlight above (probably not original). The sash windows have 12-paned glazing, with those on the ground floor taller than those on the floor above. The roof is slated, and a sill course forms a continuous band at first-floor level. The chamberlain was an extremely important figure who was in charge of the Duke of Queensberry's household and estate. He was usually appointed from the local country gentry or military men to act on the duke's behalf. He was the factor or land-agent responsible for the buying, renting and upkeep of land, and had responsibility for the estate's tenants, collecting rents, listening to grievances and, in some case, acting as policeman and Justice of the Peace to settle squabbles or deal with troublemakers. He attended to the day-to-day business of the estate, the household, the stables and kennels, the hiring and firing of workers, and the management of the various estate enterprises. At the time the house was built, the chamberlain was Major Thomas Crichton of Auchenskeoch who was appointed in 1811 and continued in the post until he retired in 1843. Dabton House, a small Classical mansion house, was designed c.1820 by the fashionable London architect, William Atkinson (c.1773-1839), for the chamberlain (factor or estate manager) of the Duke of Queensberry's estate. Drumlanrig estate, which derived some of its land from King Robert Bruce c.1300, includes the family seat, Drumlanrig Castle, one of the great Renaissance courtyard houses of Scottish domestic architecture, and provides employment for several hundred people. Dabton House is now the home of the Earl of Dalkeith, heir to the estate. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/764986

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