Carberry Tower, Inveresk, East Lothian

Description

Baronial mansion with complex building history. Evolved in anti- clockwise progress (McWilliam), from NW. 16th century tower, probably pre-1650, with large extension to S, late 17th century; S range largely attributed to late 18th and early 19th centuries; E range added by

David Bryce, circa 1860, with single storey billiard room to NW; Thomas Ross, 1909 and 1913, provided Baronial details. Interior alterations by Robert Lorimer, 1910. Rubble sandstone with ashlar dressings, some harl-pointing.

TOWER: 3-storey rectangular plan, 16th century tower; vaulted at ground and 1st floor; substantial and crenellated parapet with 2 gun loops, jettied on cavetto course, embellished with winged cherub masques (QV

palace, Stirling Castle); rounded stair tower, with later turret; flat-roof. Early 19th century. Buttressed rectangular ashlar porch projecting at ground at W, with parapet and round archway. Segmentally arched opening inserted at ground to N with tripartite lancet window;

transomed bipartite with mannered lintel, inserted at 1st floor to W. Wrought-iron fire basket.

16TH CENTURY ADDITIONS: substantial 3-storey and attic L-plan extension to S and E, with lower eaves, crowstepped gables and corbelled stair turret to E of SW tower; later additions by David Bryce including full- height canted bay to W, with armorial, and stone balustraded balcony.

S RANGE: in 2 phases, continuing 16th century additions to E; 3-storey and attic, with gabled wallheads; hoodmoulds and crenellated parapets added later; Thomas Ross additions comprised pepperpots, crowsteps,

beak skewputts, stone bracketted oriel panel to 1st floor window, and dated (1913), initialled, carved armorial.

E RANGE: David Bryce, circa 1860; comprised of 2 gabled bays at S, with 3 blinded windows, slightly recessed bay flanking and gabled advanced bays a N, rounded at ground, corbelled to square above and with

pepperpot turrets.

SERVICE COURT: inner court closed by single storey 19th century range with round archway to pend in gabled bay; single storey and attic service wing to E, projecting 3 bays to N, with machinery doors at ground and gabled dormerheads; decorative pantry/larder with French roof marked by gabled louvred ventilators, cast-iron finials and decorative timber brackets to overhanging eaves, adjoined at centre to N Billiard room adjoined to NE corner of tower. 3 bays long with steeply pitched window pediments to W.

2-leaf doors to porch with decorative cast-iron fittings. Wrought-iron tethering posts. Small-pane glazing patterns in sash and case windows; railings in addition to some ground floor windows. Grey slates; fish- scale to Bryce pepperpots. Lead finials to turrets. Barley sugar stacks to later Baronial blocks. Slate-hung gabled dormers added. Regrettable black brick stacks added at N. Decorative gutterheads and fixtures retained at intervals.

INTERIOR: largely refurbished by Bryce and Robert Lorimer. 2 stone vaulted tower rooms, both formerly with dividing timber floors. Ground floor room serving as entrance hall, with strapwork plaster ceiling, 19th century oak wainscott panelling; bolection moulded chimneypiece set in recess; cast-iron grate and dog irons; panelled embrasures. Beacon room (upper room) with ribbed vault and plaster corbels; hooded stone chimneypiece with cast-iron grate and decorative oriental tiles; bracketted timber gallery. Wide stairway with Jacobean newels, pendants and balustrade; leaded tripartite landing windows with 20th century stained glass armorial panels. Pair of white marble classical chimneypieces, strapwork plasterwork and decorative cornices to principal rooms. Library including organ, by Hill of Edinburgh, 1910, and ornately carved oak Jacobean chimneypiece bearing panel of possible 17th century Flemish origin; bolection moulded ashlar surround to fireplace.

TERRACES: squared and snecked sandstone terraces to Italian formal garden by S elevation, with square piers and ashlar coping; bowed section with niche.

Decorative wrought-iron gate to E Decorative bronze urns and stone lions, formally arranged.

SUNDIAL: 17th century, with 20th century shaft and obelisk finial. Sited at centre of Italian garden. Polyhedral (octagonal) sundial, restored on lines suggested by MacGibbon and Ross in approximation of its probable original form. Circa 6' high. Pierced form of dial and raised detail of faces, are most unusual.

Further important sundial, sited by walled garden, currently missing (1989).

Statement of Interest

Carberry tower passed through the hands of Hugh Rigg, Sir Adam Blair of Lochwood, and eventually to the Elphinstones at the start of the 19th century, being handed to the Church of Scotland in the 1960s, in whose

hands it remains as a conference centre (1989). The Main Gate, North Lodge, Stables (Elphinstone Wing), Carberry House and Gardens, Game Larder, and certain buildings formerly belonging to the estate at Springfield, are listed separately. Similarly, the monument at Carberry

Hill to Queen Mary's surrender in 1567, is entered independently. The work by Bryce at Carberry was recorded on a tracing made by Thomas Ross from one of his drawings, 1913.

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

Carberry Tower

A Category B Listed Building in Inveresk, East Lothian

Coordinates

Description

Statement of Interest

External Links

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