Prestonfield House is a

boutique hotel Boutique hotels are small inventory, design driven, unique hotels with their own character, personality and storytelling at the heart of their concept. Positioning is secondary for these hotels as they focus on authenticity and personalization ...

in Prestonfield,

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 ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. Prestonfield House was originally built in 1687 by

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Sir William Bruce Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet (c. 1630 – 1 January 1710), was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes.Colvin, p.172–176 As a key figure in introduc ...

, and was once considered a wealthy rural estate, but in recent decades has come to serve as a

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

. Although it falls on the small side as an establishment, having only 23 rooms, Prestonfield House is well-known to hotel and hospitality critics. The hotel is at the foot of

Arthur's Seat Arthur's Seat ( gd, Suidhe Artair, ) is an ancient volcano which is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue ...

. The hotel owns a large roundhouse, previously used for keeping

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...

s. The

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

s were repurposed and now host events, including the "Taste of Scotland Festival".

History

Originally known as Priestfield, the site was once a wealthy

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, founded in 1150 by

Henry, Earl of Northumbria Henry of Scotland (''Eanric mac Dabíd'', 1114 – 12 June 1152) was heir apparent to the Kingdom of Alba. He was also the 3rd Earl of Northumbria and the 3rd Earl of Huntingdon. He was the son of King David I of Scotland and Queen Maud, 2nd Cou ...

. Circa 1510,

Walter Chepman Walter Chepman (died 1532) was a Scottish merchant, notary and civil servant active in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. Chepman served at the Scottish court during the reigns of James IV and James V. In partnership with And ...

built Priestfield House on the site. Thomas Hamilton, Lord Priestfield was clearly living in the house in 1607, when he adopted Prestonfield as his style as a

Senator of the College of Justice The senators of the College of Justice are judges of the College of Justice, a set of legal institutions involved in the administration of justice in Scotland. There are three types of senator: Lords of Session (judges of the Court of Session); ...

. James Dick bought the house in 1671. It burned down during an

anti-Catholic Anti-Catholicism is hostility towards Catholics or opposition to the Catholic Church, its clergy, and/or its adherents. At various points after the Reformation, some majority Protestant states, including England, Prussia, Scotland, and the Uni ...

riot A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

in 1681. Dick employed

to design a replacement building, which was then renamed Prestonfield, distancing it from its Catholic connections. The house remained the home of the Dick baronets for many centuries. In 1751 the house was inherited by Sir Alexander Dick from his elder brother William and his wife Anne Dick. The Dick family continued to modify and improve the estate, adding

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

s, a new staircase with reception rooms and a

porte-cochère A porte-cochère (; , late 17th century, literally 'coach gateway'; plural: porte-cochères, portes-cochères) is a doorway to a building or courtyard, "often very grand," through which vehicles can enter from the street or a covered porch-like ...

. Most notably, the stable house was built in the 19th century, as designed by

James Gillespie Graham James Gillespie Graham (11 June 1776 – 11 March 1855) was a Scottish architect, prominent in the early 19th century. Life Graham was born in Dunblane on 11 June 1776. He was the son of Malcolm Gillespie, a solicitor. He was christened as J ...

. In the late 19th century it was the home of Sir William Hanmer Dick-Cunyngham, 8th Baronet of Prestonfield and Lambrughton. His son,

Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

William Henry Dick-Cunyngham Lieutenant Colonel William Henry Dick-Cunyngham VC (16 June 1851 – 6 January 1900) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British a ...

VC (16 June 1851 – 6 January 1900) was a Scottish recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

. He was in command of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders, in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

where he was mortally wounded in action at the

siege of Ladysmith The siege of Ladysmith was a protracted engagement in the Second Boer War, taking place between 2 November 1899 and 28 February 1900 at Ladysmith, Natal. Background As war with the Boer republics appeared likely in June 1899, the War Office ...

. The estate was converted for use as a hotel in the 1960s and, in 2003, the hotel was bought by

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...

James Thomson. In 2004

Mike Watson, Baron Watson of Invergowrie Michael Goodall Watson, Baron Watson of Invergowrie (born 1 May 1949), is a British Labour Party politician and arsonist. He has served in two legislatures in the United Kingdom and served as Minister for Culture and Sport in the Scottish Exe ...

was charged and later convicted of

Wilful fire raising Wilful fire-raising is a common law offence under Scots law applicable to deliberately starting fires with intent to cause damage to property. The offence is not fully equivalent to the offence of arson in England and Wales. The difference is t ...

after setting fire to a set of curtains in the hotel following a night of heavy drinking in ''The Stables'' at The

Scottish Politician of the Year Scottish Politician of the Year is an annual award established in 1999. It is held by '' The Herald'' newspaper in Prestonfield House, Edinburgh. Although the awards ceremony has been held once at the Royal Museum, Prestonfield House Hotel is c ...

party. File:Prestonfield House - geograph.org.uk - 791464.jpg, Prestonfield House, as viewed from

Holyrood Park Holyrood Park (also called the Queen's Park or King's Park depending on the reigning monarch's gender) is a royal park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It is open to the public. It has an array of hills, loc ...

File:Prestonfield House Hotel - geograph.org.uk - 1599956.jpg, Prestonfield House, as viewed from the grounds File:Room in Prestonfield House - geograph.org.uk - 1599972.jpg, Lavish internal décor File:Dick family portraits in Prestonfield House - geograph.org.uk - 1599975.jpg, Dick family portraits inside the House

References

External links

Official website
Hotels in Edinburgh Listed hotels in Scotland Country houses in Edinburgh Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes Restaurants in Scotland 1687 establishments in Scotland Buildings and structures completed in 1687 Hotels established in the 1960s {{Edinburgh-stub