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Latitude: 55.8898 / 55°53'23"N
Longitude: -3.1121 / 3°6'43"W
OS Eastings: 330539
OS Northings: 666850
OS Grid: NT305668
Mapcode National: GBR 60QB.1J
Mapcode Global: WH6T1.5795
Plus Code: 9C7RVVQQ+W5
Entry Name: Willie's Temple, Melville Castle
Listing Name: Melville Castle, Willie's Temple
Listing Date: 15 February 1991
Category: A
Source: Historic Scotland
Source ID: 345884
Historic Scotland Designation Reference: LB12940
Building Class: Cultural
ID on this website: 200345884
Location: Lasswade
County: Midlothian
Electoral Ward: Midlothian East
Parish: Lasswade
Traditional County: Midlothian
Tagged with: Summer house
Circa 1760. Single storey, circular-plan, domed hilltop summerhouse, (possibly also a wellhead?). Polished ashlar sandstone. Arranged as
4 arched openings with Gibbsian surrounds; 4 intermediate piers, each with tall, blind arched panel, framed by panelled pilaster strips stopped by a convex moulding at foot, terminating in a scrolled console (only 1 survives). Moulded cornice; stone, bell-cast roof, crowned by stone pineapple finial (recently collapsed, circa 1994).
INTERIOR: possibly originally plastered, stone domed ceiling; small, round-headed niches set in ingoes of arched openings.
An important focus within the designed landscape at Melville, this temple, known as 'Willie's Temple', is sited on a hilltop reputed to be a medieval lookout point. The Estate Plans clearly demonstrate changing focus in landscape design with the role of this temple; in 1764 formal avenues led downhill form the building and to the E past a canal to England's Hill, a hilltop plantation to the N. By 1790 the canal (sited to the W of the present Garden Cottages) had disappeared. A Group with Melville Castle, Chestnut House, East Lodge, Esk Cottage, Garden Cottage, Garden Farmhouse, Walled Garden and Lodge, South Driveway Bridge, South Lodge, and Walled Garden Steading.
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