Bowhill House is a
historic house
A historic house generally meets several criteria before being listed by an official body as "historic." Generally the building is at least a certain age, depending on the rules for the individual list. A second factor is that the building be in ...
near
Bowhill at
Selkirk in the
Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a member of the
Historic Houses Association
Historic Houses (formerly, and still for legal purposes, known as the Historic Houses Association or HHA) is a not-for-profit organisation that represents more than 1,650 privately owned historic country houses, castles and gardens throughout th ...
, and is one of the homes of the
Duke of Buccleuch
Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...
. The house is protected as a Category A
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
, and the grounds are listed on the
Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland
The ''Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland'' is a listing of gardens and designed landscapes of national artistic and/or historical significance, in Scotland. The Inventory was originally compiled in 1987, although it is a cont ...
.
History
Bowhill was built in 1708 by John, Lord Bowhill. His brother William Murray had bought the land earlier in 1690. In 1747,
Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch
Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch, KT, FRS (11 January 1695 – 22 April 1751) was a Scottish nobleman.
Family background
Buccleuch was the son of Sir James Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (son of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and Anne Scott, ...
, bought Bowhill for his son Lord Charles Scott who wanted to stand for Parliament in
Roxburgh
Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...
or Selkirk.
In 1767,
Henry, the third Duke, started to plant forests in the grounds, and in 1800, the
4th Duke Charles started to revamp what was an occasional summer house and turned it into a villa with gallery hall. The Buccleagh art collection was created as Charles and Elizabeth brought together the three family heritahes of Montagu, Douglas and Scott.
Walter, 5th Duke, made many changes and, in 1831, moved the entrance from south to north. The building was finally completed in 1876 when it was long.
Bowhill House is one of the homes of the huge private art collection. In the dining room are works by
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
,
Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...
, and
Reynolds. The collection has been gathered over 600 years and it includes 1,000 miniatures and 500 paintings as well as
objets d'art
In art history, the French term Objet d’art describes an ornamental work of art, and the term Objets d’art describes a range of works of art, usually small and three-dimensional, made of high-quality materials, and a finely-rendered finish th ...
. The Buccleuch collection of miniatures is said to second only to the
Royal Collection.
[ The whole collection is exhibited at three locations: Bowhill, ]Drumlanrig Castle
Drumlanrig Castle is situated on the Queensberry Estate in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The category A listed castle is the Dumfriesshire home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry. It is open to the public at set times.
Co ...
and Boughton House
Boughton House is a country house in the parish of Weekley in Northamptonshire, England, situated about north-east of Kettering. It is situated within an estate of .
The present house was built by Ralph Montagu, 1st Duke of Montagu (d.1709), ...
.
The gardens and the house are open to the public. The facilities include walks and an adventure playground.
See also
* List of places in the Scottish Borders
''Map of places in the Scottish Borders compiled from this list'':See the list of places in Scotland for places in other counties.
This list of places in the Scottish Borders includes towns, villages, hamlets, castles, golf courses, historic ...
* '' Treasure Houses of Britain'' – 1985 TV series with information on Bowhill, as well as other Buccleuch properties
References
External links
Bowhill House website
*
*
SCRAN: Aerial View of Bowhill (Home of the Buccleuchs) (silent videoclip)
Bowhill House Scottish Borders Heritage: Bowhill House
Bowhill House: Member of Historic Houses Association
{{Coord, 55.5404, -2.9118, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title
Country houses in the Scottish Borders
Scottish gardens in the English Landscape Garden style
Gardens in the Scottish Borders
Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders
Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes
Listed houses in Scotland
*Bowhill House