Hamilton House, also known as Magdalen's House, is a 17th-century "Laird's House" in the town of

Prestonpans Prestonpans ( gd, Baile an t-Sagairt, Scots: ''The Pans'') is a small mining town, situated approximately eight miles east of Edinburgh, Scotland, in the Council area of East Lothian. The population as of is. It is near the site of the 1745 ...

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. It is an exemplar of this type of architecture and has retained its crow-stepped gables and corner towers. It is owned by the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...

and is 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 ...

History

The house was built in 1626 as a replacement for Preston Tower for Sir

John Hamilton, Lord Magdalens John Hamilton, Lord Magdalens (1561–1632) was a 16th/17th century Scottish judge and Senator of the College of Justice. Life He was the son of Thomas Hamilton, Lord Priestfield, 3rd Laird of Priestfield, and his second wife, Elizabeth Murr ...

, who was a Senator of the

College of Justice The College of Justice includes the Supreme Courts of Scotland, and its associated bodies. The constituent bodies of the national supreme courts are the Court of Session, the High Court of Justiciary, the Office of the Accountant of Court, an ...

and the brother of the 1st Earl of Haddington. The property was vacated by the Hamiltons in the 1740s, and in the 19th century it was converted into a barracks and later used as a

tavern A tavern is a place of business where people gather to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food such as different types of roast meats and cheese, and (mostly historically) where travelers would receive lodging. An inn is a tavern that h ...

. Around 1880 the Hislop family are recorded as being the owners of the building. Eventually the building fell into dereliction and was about to be demolished when it was sold to The National Trust of Scotland in 1937 and the NTS restored it as a private residence. It is now a Category A Listed Building.

Location

Hamilton House is located in the small town of Prestonpans in East Lothian, 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 ...

. It sits at the corner of West Loan and Preston Road within the part of the town known as Preston near the Preston Tower, Prestonpans Mercat cross and Northfield House.

Features

Hamilton House comprises a two-storey main block with projecting

wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

at either end. The date 1628 (or 1626) appears in a panel above the former main entrance, with the initials IH and KS representing Sir John Hamilton, Lord Magdalen, and Katherine Sympson, while thee three

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

s of the

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable space ...

s have the Hamilton's coat of arms, their impaled initials and the date 1628, as well as the arms of Katherine Sympson. The exterior is

harled Harling is a roughcast, rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, w ...

and whitewashed, has

chamfer A chamfer or is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fu ...

ed stone edges and crow-stepped gables, known in Scots as ''corbie-stepped''. The chimney stacks have stripped

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

s. The house has a hexagonal stair tower which stands in the corner of the main block with south wing and which contains the main entrance, above which is the inscription ''"Praised be the Lord My Strenth and My Redeimer"'', while at the other end of the main block there is a round conical roofed, corbelled-out turret. The house has a steep roof tiled with stones. When the road outside was widened an outbuilding and a passageway were demolished, reducing the size of the courtyard. The adjacent road is also around 500mm higher than the original dirt road, from when the surface was macadamed in the 19th century. The interior of the building has been completely re-ordered in relation to its original form.

Controversy

The National Trust for Scotland wanted to sell the building in 2007 but changed their mind to find a "restoring tenant" but in 2017 concerns were raised from the local community about the condition of the building.

Photo gallery

Image:HamiltonHouse04.jpg Image:HamiltonHouse01.jpg Image:HamiltonHouse02.jpg Image:HamiltonHouse03.jpg

References