Eildon Hall, near
St Boswells
St Boswells ( sco, Bosels / Bosells; gd, Cille Bhoisil ) is a large village on the south side of the River Tweed in the Scottish Borders, about southeast of Newtown St Boswells on the A68 road. It lies within the boundaries of the historic ...
, Roxburghshire, is one of the houses belonging to the
Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensbury. It is located at the foot of
Eildon Hill
Eildon Hill lies just south of Melrose, Scotland in the Scottish Borders, overlooking the town. The name is usually pluralised into "the Eildons" or "Eildon Hills", because of its triple peak. The high eminence overlooks Teviotdale to the Sout ...
, just south of the town of
Melrose in the
Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...
.
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, (born Lady Alice Christabel Montagu Douglas Scott; 25 December 1901 – 29 October 2004) was the wife of Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester, the third son of King George V and Queen Mary. She was the mother ...
(née Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott, daughter of the
seventh Duke) is very descriptive of Eildon Hall, her childhood home, in her memoirs. She describes it as a "
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
house with
Victorian additions, made from the local coral pink
sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
,"
and "standing 600 feet above sea level."
She also describes the view from the house as a "wonderful view of the valley below stretching away to the
Cheviots
The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes Th ...
thirty miles distant."
Eildon Hall is used as a principal residence by whosoever happens to be the
Earl of Dalkeith
Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...
, heir to the
Dukedom of Buccleuch. "Perhaps because Eildon was the first grown-up home of aspiring Dukes of Buccleuch," wrote Princess Alice, "and has therefore always been a young family's house, it has a charmingly domestic air."
It is less known than the other properties of the
Montagu Douglas Scott
The House of Montagu Douglas Scott, or simply Scott, is an aristocratic family in the United Kingdom, founded initially in the 15th century as Clan Scott. In the 17th century, James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, eldest illegitimate son of Charl ...
family--
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.
Con ...
,
Bowhill House
Bowhill House is a historic house near Bowhill at Selkirk in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is a member of the Historic Houses Association, and is one of the homes of the Duke of Buccleuch. The house is protected as a Category A lis ...
,
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), ...
,
all three of which are where the bulk of the
Duke of Buccleuch collection
The art collection of the Duke of Buccleuch is mostly European. The holdings, principally collected over a period of 300 years, comprise some 500 paintings, 1,000 miniatures and an enormous selection of objets d'art including furniture, porcelain, ...
s are housed.
The family of the Earl of Dalkeith will generally use it until he inherits the title of Duke of Buccleuch, such as in the cases of the respective fathers of Princess Alice of Gloucester
and
Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland (née Lady Elizabeth Montagu-Douglas-Scott).
Lady Elizabeth, who died as Dowager Duchess of Northumberland in 2012, was the daughter of Princess Alice's brother,
Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch
Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and 10th Duke of Queensberry, (30 December 1894 – 4 October 1973) was a British peer and Conservative politician.
Early life and education
Walter John Montagu Douglas Scott was born on 3 ...
and lived at Eildon Hall until 1935 when her grandfather, the seventh Duke.
When Princess Alice was growing up, Eildon Hall part of the succession of houses where the family lived throughout the year. After spending the "
Season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
" at
Montagu House in London, her parents, siblings, and she would travel up to Eildon House and stay there through the end of summer. Then they would move to
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.
Con ...
in Dumfriesshire. Christmas was invariably spent at
Dalkeith House
Dalkeith Palace is a country house in Dalkeith, Midlothian, Scotland. It was the seat of the Dukes of Buccleuch from 1642 until 1914, and is owned by the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. The present palace was built 1701–1711 on the site of t ...
near Edinburgh. In the new year, they would move to Bowhill, thence to Boughton at Easter, to London for the Season, back to Eildon Hall and so on.
History
The house was built in 1802 for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
surgeon Thomas Mein.
Extensions were designed by the famous Scottish architect
William Burn
William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
for
the fifth Duke of Buccleuch, who bought the house in 1838
and wanted to use it as a base during the
fox hunt
Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, traditionally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hou ...
season.
The fifth Duke founded the Buccleuch Hunt in 1827; it chases the fox from the foothills of the Cheviot to the
Lammermuir Hills
The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs".
Geology
The Lammer ...
.
Princess Alice's memoirs, which she published in 1983, further the impression of Eildon Hall was a base for the fox hunting season. She mentions that her uncle
Lord George Scott
Lord George William Montagu Douglas Scott, (31 August 1866 – 23 February 1947) was a Scottish cricketer and soldier who was a younger son of William Montagu Douglas Scott, 6th Duke of Buccleuch.
Early life
Scott was born in Bowhill, Selki ...
came often, as he was then Master of the Buccleuch Hunt; another paternal uncle, Lord Henry Scott, was equally enthusiastic about the hunt, who brought his friend,
Cospatrick Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home
Cospatrick Alexander Douglas-Home, 11th Earl of Home (27 October 1799 – 4 July 1881), styled Lord Dunglass until 1841, was a Scottish diplomat and politician. He served as a representative peer for Scotland. During the premiership of the Duke of ...
. Princess Alice wrote: "Two days a week Uncle Henry and Cospatrick disappeared into Edinburgh to do something at a bank and thought themselves very hard worked; the rest of their time was spent hunting, shooting or fishing."
Alice herself was keen on these activities, as testified to in the
Illustrated London News
''The Illustrated London News'' appeared first on Saturday 14 May 1842, as the world's first illustrated weekly news magazine. Founded by Herbert Ingram, it appeared weekly until 1971, then less frequently thereafter, and ceased publication in ...
, which wrote: "She was always very keen about hunting, and when at Eildon Hall missed very few meets."
Folklore
Legend has it that
King Arthur
King Arthur ( cy, Brenin Arthur, kw, Arthur Gernow, br, Roue Arzhur) is a legendary king of Britain, and a central figure in the medieval literary tradition known as the Matter of Britain.
In the earliest traditions, Arthur appears as a ...
traversed the Eildon Hills. Battles and adventures, centering around characters of the Kingdom of
Gododdin
The Gododdin () were a Brittonic people of north-eastern Britannia, the area known as the Hen Ogledd or Old North (modern south-east Scotland and north-east England), in the sub-Roman period. Descendants of the Votadini, they are best known a ...
, and epic poems like the
Y Gododdin
''Y Gododdin'' () is a medieval Welsh poem consisting of a series of elegies to the men of the Brittonic kingdom of Gododdin and its allies who, according to the conventional interpretation, died fighting the Angles of Deira and Bernicia at a p ...
reference these parts. The caverns of the Eildon hills are said to be represented as
Avalon
Avalon (; la, Insula Avallonis; cy, Ynys Afallon, Ynys Afallach; kw, Enys Avalow; literally meaning "the isle of fruit r appletrees"; also written ''Avallon'' or ''Avilion'' among various other spellings) is a mythical island featured in the ...
, where King Arthur took possession of the sword
Excalibur
Excalibur () is the legendary sword of King Arthur, sometimes also attributed with magical powers or associated with the rightful sovereignty of Britain. It was associated with the Arthurian legend very early on. Excalibur and the Sword in th ...
. It is believed by some that King Arthur was buried in one of these caverns.
Literature
Sir
Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
lived nearby at
Abbotsford House
Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825 ...
and his novel
The Bride of Lammermoor
''The Bride of Lammermoor'' is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott, published in 1819, one of the Waverley novels. The novel is set in the Lammermuir Hills of south-east Scotland, shortly before the Act of Union of 1707 (in the first editio ...
is set in the
Lammermuir Hills
The Lammermuirs are a range of hills in southern Scotland, forming a natural boundary between East Lothian and the Borders. The name "Lammermuir" comes from the Old English ''lambra mōr'', meaning "moorland of the lambs".
Geology
The Lammer ...
.
The Clergy Cottage
Jane Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch
Jane Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry (''née'' McNeill; 19 December 1929 – 18 April 2011) was a British duchess and model. She was a fashion model for Norman Hartnell before marrying John Scott, Earl of Dalkeith, th ...
, the former Jane McNeil (wife of
the ninth Duke), is credited with the idea of installing the Clergy Cottage on the estate of Eildon Hall.
Clergy from all over the United Kingdom could have holidays there. "It was enormously popular and benefited all, from curates to bishops."
The Gardens and Grounds
"We used to enjoy the gardens at Eildon," wrote Princess Alice. "Not only were there nice things to eat, lovely raspberries, peaches and figs, but the gardeners, with whom were great friends, encouraged us to do our own gardening by giving us plants. These we would cosset in our own little plots."
"No doubt we found solace in walking down to the railway bridge and watching the trains, another Eildon treat. There was also a trout pond at the foot of the field in front of the house, which is now used by local anglers."
References
{{reflist
Houses completed in 1802
1802 establishments in Scotland
Country houses in the Scottish Borders