Culross Palace from top of its garden, Aug 2018

Culross Palace is a late 16th to early 17th century merchant's house in

Culross Culross (/ˈkurəs/) (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cuileann Ros'', 'holly point or promontory') is a village and former royal burgh, and parish, in Fife, Scotland. According to the 2006 estimate, the village has a population of 395. Originally, Culross ...

, Fife,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The palace, or "Great Lodging", was constructed between 1597 and 1611 by Sir George Bruce, the

Laird Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...

of Carnock. The house was mainly built in two campaigns. The south block in 1597 and the north building in 1611, the year when George Bruce was knighted. Bruce was a successful merchant who had a flourishing trade with other Forth ports, the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

and Sweden. He had interests in coal mining,

salt Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quant ...

production, and shipping, and is credited with sinking the world's first coal mine to extend under the sea. Many of the materials used in the construction of the palace were obtained during the course of Bruce's foreign trade. Baltic

pine A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accepts ...

, red

pantile A pantile is a type of fired roof tile, normally made from clay. It is S-shaped in profile and is single lap, meaning that the end of the tile laps only the course immediately below. Flat tiles normally lap two courses. A pantile-covered ro ...

s, and

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

floor tiles and glass were all used. The exterior boasts the use of crow-stepped gables, including a statue of a

veil A veil is an article of clothing or hanging cloth that is intended to cover some part of the head or face, or an object of some significance. Veiling has a long history in European, Asian, and African societies. The practice has been prominent ...

ed woman posing on the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

step. The palace features fine interiors, with decorative mural and ceiling painting, 17th and 18th-century furniture and a fine collection of Staffordshire and Scottish

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...

. Although it was never a royal residence,

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

visited the Palace in 1617. The palace is now in the care of 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 organi ...

who have restored a model seventeenth-century garden, complete with raised beds, a covered walkway and crushed shell paths. The herbs, vegetables and fruit trees planted in the garden are types that were used in the early seventeenth century. The renaissance paintwork was restored in 1932 for the National Trust and again in the 1990s by conservators from

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) ( gd, Àrainneachd Eachdraidheil Alba) is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the mer ...

. On the second floor of the south block a ceiling painting includes 16 emblems adapted from Geffrey Whitney's ''A Choice of Emblemes'' (London, 1586). The north block has the fragmentary remains of a scene showing the Judgement of Solomon, and extensive original decorative painting.Michael Bath, ''Renaissance Decorative Painting in Scotland'' (NMS: Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 249-53: Michael Bath, ''Emblems in Scotland'' (Brill, 2018), pp. 78. 167-8, 212-221.

References

External links

Culross Palace
- official site at National Trust for Scotland
Engraving of nearby Culross House in 1693
by John Slezer at National Library of Scotland Houses completed in 1611 Houses in Fife Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Fife Historic house museums in Fife Gardens in Fife National Trust for Scotland properties Listed houses in Scotland Listed palaces in Scotland Palaces in Fife 1611 establishments in Scotland Trade in Scotland Listed buildings in Culross {{Scotland-struct-stub