Gosford House is a
neoclassical country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...
around northeast of
Longniddry
Longniddry ( sco, Langniddry, gd, Nuadh-Treabh Fada)
...
in
East Lothian
East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In 1975, the histo ...
, Scotland, on the A198 Aberlady Road, in of parkland and coast.
It is the family seat of the Charteris family, the
Earls of Wemyss
Earl of Wemyss ( ) is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created in 1633. The Scottish Wemyss family had possessed the lands of Wemyss in Fife since the 12th century. Since 1823 the earldom has been held with the Earldom of March, created in ...
and
March
March is the third month of the year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. It is the second of seven months to have a length of 31 days. In the Northern Hemisphere, the meteorological beginning of spring occurs on the first day of Marc ...
. It was the home of the late
Rt. Hon.
''The Right Honourable'' ( abbreviation: ''Rt Hon.'' or variations) is an honorific style traditionally applied to certain persons and collective bodies in the United Kingdom, the former British Empire and the Commonwealth of Nations. The term is ...
David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss
Francis David Charteris, 12th Earl of Wemyss and 8th Earl of March (19 January 1912 – 12 December 2008), styled Lord Elcho from 1916 to 1937, was a Scottish peer, landowner and conservationist. From 1946 to 1991, he served as chairman of ...
,
chief of the name and arms of
Charteris, until his death in 2008. In 2009, it was inherited by
James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss and March (known by the courtesy title of Lord Neidpath) although the Earl and his wife, drug researcher
Amanda Feilding
Amanda Claire Marian Charteris, Countess of Wemyss and March (; born 30 January 1943), also known as Amanda Feilding, is an English drug policy reformer, lobbyist, and research coordinator. In 1998, she founded the Foundation to Further Conscio ...
, reside at
Stanway House
Stanway House is a Jacobean manor house, located near the village of Stanway in Gloucestershire, England. The manor of Stanway was owned by Tewkesbury Abbey for 800 years then for 500 years by the Tracy family and their descendants, the Earls ...
in
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
. The south wing is the family home portion of the estate.
The estate, listed on 5 February 1971 as Gosford House With Screen Walls and Garden Statuary, LB6533, includes numerous
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 ...
s, notably the house, the stables and the mausoleum which are all Category A listed. The grounds are included in 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
Previous to ownership by
7th Earl of Wemyss in 1781 or 1784 (depending on the source), the property was held by the Murrays, Douglases, Sinclairs from 1458, by the Achesons from 1561, then by the Auchmutys from 1622 and then by the Wedderburn family in 1659.
Gosford was built by the 7th Earl between 1790 and 1800, to plans by the architect
Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
(1728–1792),
who died before the house was completed. The 7th Earl is buried in the Wemyss Mausoleum on the estate. He is the only member of the family to be buried in this building, a pyramid-style structure (because of his role as Grand Master Mason of the
Grand Lodge of Scotland
The Grand Lodge of Antient Free and Accepted Masons of Scotland is the governing body of Freemasonry in Scotland. It was founded in 1736. About one third of Scotland's lodges were represented at the foundation meeting of the Grand Lodge.
Histor ...
), that is now category A listed.
The
8th Earl inherited Gosford House. The property originally included the main block with flanking pavilions and colonnades. In the 1800s, damage from the damp air, aggravated by the use of sea sand, led the 8th Earl to demolish the wings. During 1830–1840, an earlier house on the property was rebuilt beside the stables. It was subsequently demolished.
In 1891,
10th Earl, rebuilt the wings to designs by the architect
William Young.
The south wing contains the marble hall.
In the 20th and 21st centuries
Between the two great wars, the House was used as a hotel.
During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, the
British Army
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...
occupied the house, during which time part of the centre block was damaged by fire resulting from a party. Subsequent dry rot led to the roof being partly removed. It was re-roofed in 1987, and restoration of the central block is an ongoing process, which was progressed by Shelagh, Dowager Countess of Wemyss and March. The ponds in the policies were restored by James Charteris, 13th Earl of Wemyss who took over the family estate and title in December 2008 when his father died. Gosford can be seen from
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
on a clear day. It is open to the public in the summer. The grounds contain an unusual and rare example of a Scottish
curling house
A curling house was used to store curling stones, brushes and other equipment used to maintain a curling pond and play the game of curling in Scotland and elsewhere.
Introduction
The houses were often purely functional in character, being relat ...
.
A February 1971 report provided this summary of the House at the time:
Classical double pile mansion, 2-storey with basement. William Young replaced Adam's pavilions with Baroque pavilion wings 1891, and reorientated entrance to S, added arcaded loggia to E and W elevations. Polished yellow ashlar with base course, channelled basement, impost course, full entablature with noulded cornice, blocking course with balustraded sections and decorative urns. Moulded architraves, lugged or pedimented windows to principal floors.... The house contains a remarkable, extensive collection of paintings and porcelain.
Additional specifics about the interior in 2015 are provided by a ''Historic Houses'' publication
Inside, the building exceeds the expectations raised by its elegant exterior. The Marble Hall, in the south wing, is arguably the most arresting of its many fine features. It was completed in 1891 by William Young for the tenth Earl of Wemyss and rises to a height of three storeys, with a magnificent double staircase leading to a surrounding picture gallery. The elaborate fireplace, alabaster colonnades and ornate plasterwork reflect the strong Italianate taste of the tenth Earl, while the Palladian screen of Venetian windows are reminiscent of Adam’s original designs.
The 13th Earl has authorized conservation work, partly to repair damage caused while the property was used by the Army.
Several film productions have utilized the site, including the 2000 film ''
House of Mirth
''The House of Mirth'' is a 1905 novel by American author Edith Wharton. It tells the story of Lily Bart, a well-born but impoverished woman belonging to New York City's high society around the end of the 19th century. Wharton creates a portrait ...
'', directed by
Terence Davies
Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...
and based on the novel by
Edith Wharton
Edith Wharton (; born Edith Newbold Jones; January 24, 1862 – August 11, 1937) was an American novelist, short story writer, and interior designer. Wharton drew upon her insider's knowledge of the upper-class New York "aristocracy" to portray ...
, and the second and third season of ''
Outlander'', the
Starz! Network television series based on the novels by
Diana Gabaldon
Diana J. Gabaldon (; born January 11, 1952) is an American author, known for the ''Outlander'' series of novels. Her books merge multiple genres, featuring elements of historical fiction, romance, mystery, adventure and science fiction/fantas ...
.
The house also appeared in ''
The Awakening'', starring
Rebecca Hall
Rebecca Maria Hall (born 3 May 1982) is an English actress and filmmaker. She made her first onscreen appearance at age 10 in the 1992 television adaptation of ''The Camomile Lawn'', directed by her father, Sir Peter Hall. Her professional s ...
.
See also
*
List of places in East Lothian
''Map of places in East Lothian compiled from this list''
The List of places in East Lothian is a list for any town, village, hamlet, castle, golf course, historic house, hill fort, lighthouse, nature reserve, reservoir, river, and other place of ...
*
List of castles in Scotland
This is a list of castles in Scotland. A castle is a type of fortified structure built primarily during the Middle Ages. Scholars debate the scope of the word "castle", but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord o ...
References
External links
Gosford House- official site
Visiting information-
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 ...
{{Coord, 55.9963, -2.8801, display=title
Country houses in East Lothian
Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes
Robert Adam buildings
Gardens in East Lothian
Historic house museums in East Lothian
Neoclassical architecture in Scotland
Longniddry
Category A listed buildings in East Lothian
Clan Charteris
Scotland in World War II