Description

William Wilkins, 1814-17. 2-storey Tudor Gothic country house comprising U-plan main block with principal elevations to SE and NE, and service wings to NW. Polished and droved ashlar sandstone with Coade stone detailing. Base course, string course at 1st floor, cornice and crenellated parapets at eaves. Octagonal corniced piers with decorative carved panels to external angles and framing elevations; hoodmoulds to stone mullioned and transomed windows.

SE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 7-bay, asymmetrical, with 2-storey porch breaking eaves at centre; Tudor-arched entrance door with moulded reveals and 2-leaf panelled timber door, hoodmould above enclosing armorial panels; 3-light pointed-arched window centred at 1st floor above; decorative frieze below cornice with cusped panelling to stepped parapet; octagonal piers at corners rising to corniced pinnacles, each with strapwork to shafts and capped by ogee dome. Bay to left of centre recessed at ground with 3-light window, elevation corbelled out at 1st floor with 2-light window. Penultimate bay to left, wide and advanced, framed by octagonal piers rising to panelled pinnacles; 2 and 4-light windows with shared hoodmoulds at ground and 1st floors with armorial panels inset in frieze between, frieze and parapet at eaves matching entrance porch. Lower bay to outer left with 4 and 3-light windows at ground and 1st floors respectively. 3-light windows at ground and 1st floors in bay to right of centre. 2-storey 7-light mullioned and transomed canted stone window in penultimate bay to right. Small window inserted at 1st floor in bay to outer right.

NE ELEVATION: 7-bay, symmetrical, 3-storey centre bay, breaking eaves as tower with octagonal piers at corners rising to crenellated turrets; 4-light windows at ground and 1st floors, 3-light at 2nd floor. 2-bay flanks recessed to right and left, regularly fenestrated with 4-light windows. Gabled outer bays, each framed by octagonal piers rising to panelled pinnacles; 5-light windows slightly advanced at each floor; armorial panels over windows at ground, crenellated parapet superimposed on gablehead with armorial panel centred above.

NW ELEVATION: asymmetrical, comprising symmetrical regularly fenestrated 3-bay block advanced at outer left with 4-light windows in centre bay and 3-light windows in flanking bays; lower 2-storey over basement wing to right with gabled bay advanced at outer right.

SW ELEVATION: asymmetrical, comprising 2 and 3-storey elevations of main block and service wing flanking courtyard entrance to right and left respectively. Main block; comprises 3 bay near-symmetrical elevation with additional bay recessed at left and octagonal pier clasping corner to outer right; single storey crenellated stone porch projecting in centre bay with 4-light windows in flanking bays, 2-light window centred at floor above with 3-light windows in flanking bays; 2-light window at each floor in bay to outer left. Service wing; 4-bay (grouped 1-2-1) elevation, basement concealed by later 20th century tea-room addition, regularly fenestrated upper floors.

COURTYARD: large pointed-arched Gothic-traceried stair window centring NE side; window aligned at 1st floor, windows in flanking bays, narrow windows inserted between centre and outer bays. Variety of additions and windows inserted to SE and NW sides.

W WING: single storey over basement 3-bay wing presiding over courtyard to W; near-symmetrical 2-storey W elevation, round-arched door centred at basement, bipartite window in bay to left, irregular fenestration in bay to right; loft door with cast-iron balcony centred at principal floor, bipartite windows in flanking bays. Single storey over concealed basement 3-bay near-symmetrical NW elevation; canted window with 2-light windows to each face at centre; pointed-arched doors flanking, infilled at left, panelled timber door at right, bays recessed and advanced to outer left and right respectively, bipartite mullioned window in left bay, 2-light window in right bay; crenellated parapet at eaves.

Metal casement and fixed-light multi-paned glazing to mullioned windows, leaded and stained glass to traceried windows, timber sash and case windows to other openings. Graded grey slate roofs, piended at parapetted gables, low-pitched copper repair to E corner. Clustered Tudor Gothic stacks comprising corniced plinths to octagonal shafts decorated with fleur-de-lis, rampant lions, and Tudor roses; moulded bases, and ornate copes. Profiled cast-iron gutter to courtyard elevations.

INTERIOR: outstanding interior decorative scheme. Fan-vaulting to entrance hall and corridor, with 16th century Flemish stained-glass windows and Tudor arches to latter. 3-bay hammerbeam ceiling with battlemented pendants in stair hall; stair with wrought-iron balustrade and timber handrail; Wilkins bookcases and doors in Library, with reed jamb shafts and lotus leaf capitals; groins and paterae to cornice in Drawing Room; cofferred arch to Napoleon Room; fretted centrepiece and bracketed cornice to Dining Room. Private apartments to 1st floor on smaller scale, some with panelling and reed jamb shafts.

TERRACE: coped droved ashlar sandstone retaining wall to SE, NE, and NW elevations; polygonal bastions at W corners.

GARDEN WALLS, RAILINGS, GATES AND GATEPIERS: coped ashlar sandstone wall enclosing garden to S, 2-leaf timber gates; ashlar sandstone gatepiers with octagonal shafts, bases and caps, dwarf walls flanking with decorative cast-iron railings.

Statement of Interest

A Group with Barnbougle Castle, Barnbougle Gate Lodge, Dalmeny House Boundary Wall, Chapel Gate Lodge, East Craigie Farmhouse, East Craigie Gate Lodge, Edinburgh Gate Lodge, Dalmeny House Gardener?s Cottage, Dalmeny House Home Farm, Dalmeny House Home Farm Laundry, Leuchold, Leuchold Gate Lodge, Longcraig Gate Lodge, 1, 2, 3 and 4 Long Green, Newhalls Gate Lodge, Dalmeny House Stable Block and Dalmeny House Walled Garden (see separate listings).

The Moubray or Mowbray family, who came from Normandy with William the Conqueror, became the lords of Barnbougle, Dalmeny and Inverkeithing, and sold the estate in 1615 to Sir Thomas Hamilton. His grandson sold the estate to Sir Archibald Primrose of Carrington, later the Lord Justice General of Scotland. His eldest son by his second marriage, Archibald, was created Earl of Rosebery in 1703, and his family lived at Barnbougle Castle until the early 19th century, when it was decided to build another property, after the extent of the neglect of the house was such that a wave reputedly washed into the dining room while the family were at supper. The son of the 4th Earl had Dalmeny house built in 1817, three years after commissioning William Wilkins and Jeffry Wyatt to submit plans. Wilkins? original plan was for a neo-classical house, while Wyatt?s was Tudor Gothic, but Rosebery wanted to employ the latter architect, a former associate from Cambridge, and thus asked him to submit a Tudor Gothic plan, which was accepted. The design of Dalmeny, although including some classical symmetry, was based on East Barsham Manor, a Tudor mansion in Norfolk, built by Sir Henry Fermor, circa 1520. The Coade stone ornamentation at Dalmeny was second only to Buckingham Palace as a domestic order from the Coade factory, with over 300 cases of Coade stone being shipped to Leith over 3 years. The hammerbeam ceiling in the main hall is similar to Wilkin's later ceiling in the Hall of King's College, Cambridge. The W block contained a dairy and servants bedrooms on the 1st floor, as well as a lamp house, an oast-house and joiners shop.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Dalmeny House at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5211555

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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