Description

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.

Statement of Interest

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.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56448300

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.

Recommended Books

• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Devon (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)