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Summary

Description

Georgian style mansion restored in 1873-4 after fire in 1970, 3-storeys high; 7-bay North front with curvilinear pediment over slightly advanced central 3 bays. Harled. Slated roof. 2 vaulted chambers in 1st storey and drawing room in 2nd are most interesting parts of interior.

OLD BURIAL GROUND: predominantly 19th century incorporating 18th century and earlier fragments. Rectangular-plan burial enclosure with pitched stone-coped wallhead and raised segmental arched entrance to S wall flanked by quatrefoil openings. Marble and stone tablets attached to inside walls dating between late 18th century and late 19th century. Predominantly snecked red sandstone with cream sandstone dressings; cream sandstone elsewhere. Roll-moulded architrave to entrance arch with hoodmoulded and mask stops; tablet above; spear-headed iron gate.

Statement of Special Interest

Makerstoun belonged to the Corbets from the mid 12th cent. until 1374; then the McDowell (later Macdougall) family until 1890; and then the Scott-Macdougalls until 1920 when it was bought by James Jardine Bell-Irving from whom it eventually passed to the present occupant his great grand- daughter, Lady Biddulph.

Until 1970 Makerstoun presented the castellated red sandstone appearance which it had been given c.1828. At that time the North front had been advanced to the depth of one room and battlements and turrets had been added to the other elevations. These alterations are attributed by the present owner to Archibald Elliot II. After the fire (1970) the restoration architects, Ian Lindsay and Partners, decided to return Makerstoun to the appearance which it had had after William Adam altered and extended it to the North in 1725. The Elliot and Adam additions on the North were pulled down leaving only the pre-1725 house and then the advanced Adam North front was rebuilt on its old line with its curved pediment. Elliot's crenellations were removed and also two turrets at the rear where a triangular pediment was now added over the advanced central bays. The pre-1725 house, the carcase of which was incorporated in the 1973-74 mansion, had been rebuilt in 1590 on the foundations of the house destroyed in Hertford's invasion of 1545. The East end, which has a vaulted 1st storey chamber may represent the oldest part, a tower-house or peel-tower, to which in the 15th century a wing was added on the West, with two chambers in the first storey, one being vaulted. Alexander McGill made drawings in 1714 but apparently his proposed alterations were not executed. The guest-wing, modernised in 1973-4 has a sundial dated 1684 and inscribed 'HM/BM' (Henry and Barbara Macdougall).

Burial ground of the Macdougall family is situated close to Makerstoun House and contains a number of 18th and 19th century monuments, including that to General Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane, Governor of New South Wales (d.1860). The enclosure has a well-detailed external wall and is a significant part of the estate. It is located on the site of the old parish church which was granted to Kelso Abbey in c.1159. It possibly incorporates, in the north and east walls, fragments of a burial aisle which may have been created in the chancel of the medieval church. Further work on the west may have been executed in the later 18th or early 19th century in anticipation of the new parish church being erected (1808).

References

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