Documents

Where documents include maps, the use of this data is subject to terms and conditions (https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/termsandconditions).

The legal document available for download below constitutes the formal designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The additional details provided on this page are provided for information purposes only and do not form part of the designation. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within this additional information.

• Type

  Legal Documents

  Title

  SM5288_Legal Doc

  Download(https://portal.historicenvironment.scot/document/600011190)

Summary

Description

The monument is the remains of Culross Palace, adjacent buildings and gardens, built during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The monument comprises three roofed buildings, two forming the palace itself and a third building known as Bessie Bar Hall, together with all courtyards, gardens to the N, all boundary walls and all buried archaeological remains. The palace is situated on a steep slope at about 30m OD, overlooking the village of Culross and the Firth of Forth. The monument was originally scheduled in 1992, but the documentation did not meet modern standards: the present amendment rectifies this and extends the scheduled area to include the newly discovered remains of an East Range to the Palace.

Culross Palace was the mansion townhouse of George Bruce, later Sir George Bruce of Culross and Carnock, a prominent industrialist with extensive interests in the coal and salt industries of the Forth Estuary. The palace survives as a complex of upstanding, roofed buildings of orange-harled sandstone-rubble construction, built around a S-facing courtyard, with a walled garden and terraces on sloping ground to the N. The earliest remains of a small hall-house survive as the central block of a two-storey W range, measuring 12.3m E-W by 5.3m transversely. A second floor over the W range, with the inscription 'GB' and date 1597 on the central dormer, originated in a series of substantial alterations made by Bruce after he acquired the property, reflecting his growing success in commerce. About the same time, a two-storey L-plan block was added to the S, with the two buildings separated by a small courtyard. Shortly after, a two-storey extension containing a bake-house and a new kitchen was added to the N side of the original building. The three-storey N range dates to 1611. Archaeological excavations have revealed buried footings and rich archaeological deposits relating to the construction and use of an E range to the palace, which was built around this time and partially abandoned by the 18th century. Elements of this range are also visible on the inside face of the E precinct wall. Many original architectural features survive on the outside of the upstanding buildings, including crow-stepped gables, decorative carvings and initialled pediments on dormer windows. Internally, original features include the fine painted ceilings and the precautions taken to make the strong-room fireproof in the form of a tiled floor and an inner door of sheet iron. Fine early Georgian panelling in the Laird's Room was introduced after the sale of Culross Palace to Colonel John Erskine of Carnock in 1704. The separate building known as Bessie Bar Hall is not directly connected with the palace, but is an important building in its own right. It was built either in the late 16th century or possibly as late as 1776 (a stone of this date is visible in the S gable). This building is associated with Bessie Bar, who lived in the latter half of the 16th century and carried on an extensive business in malting, probably at this site. The remains of a circular, stone-lined feature known as the 'Bessie Bar well' survive between the palace and Bessie Bar Hall, reputedly built on the order of the burgh council in 1598 to gather water from the steep hillside above for use by the household and the people of Culross.

The scheduled area is irregular on plan to include the remains described above and an area around them in which evidence for the construction, use and abandonment of Culross Palace, gardens and Bessie Bar Hall is expected to survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map. The scheduling includes the entire footprint of the site, including the ground below the roofed buildings, to protect the buried archaeological remains. The scheduling excludes the above-ground elements of all modern additions (such as interpretative signage) and all furniture, furnishings and portable objects both inside and outside the buildings. It also excludes the top 300mm of all external paths, paved areas, garden ground and other surfaces in use, to allow for their maintenance.

Statement of National Importance

The monument is of national importance as an outstanding example of a 16th- and 17th-century mansion townhouse with associated buildings and gardens, originally owned by the prominent Culross and Scottish industrialist Sir George Bruce. The monument survives in excellent condition as a property of the National Trust for Scotland and is open to the public. Culross Palace and gardens are particularly notable for their preservation of internal decorative features, including particularly fine painted ceilings which are prime examples of Scottish Renaissance interior decoration. The palace and gardens represent an important component of both the medieval and contemporary landscapes of the royal burgh of Culross. Well documented archaeological investigations have demonstrated that the monument retains significant potential to add important information about domestic life and the economy of the royal burgh of Culross during the 16th and 17th centuries, particularly in connection with the coal mining, salt panning and metalworking industries. Damage to or loss of the monument would diminish our ability to understand the form, character and evolution of merchant houses in Fife and across Scotland during the 16th and 17th centuries.

References

Bibliography

About Scheduled Monuments

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Scheduling is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for monuments and archaeological sites of national importance as set out in the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979.

We schedule sites and monuments that are found to be of national importance using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Scheduled monument records provide an indication of the national importance of the scheduled monument which has been identified by the description and map. The description and map (see ‘legal documents’ above) showing the scheduled area is the designation of the monument under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. The statement of national importance and additional information provided are supplementary and provided for general information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland accepts no liability for any loss or damages arising from reliance on any inaccuracies within the statement of national importance or additional information. These records are not definitive historical or archaeological accounts or a complete description of the monument(s).

The format of scheduled monument records has changed over time. Earlier records will usually be brief. Some information will not have been recorded and the map will not be to current standards. Even if what is described and what is mapped has changed, the monument is still scheduled.

Scheduled monument consent is required to carry out certain work, including repairs, to scheduled monuments. Applications for scheduled monument consent are made to us. We are happy to discuss your proposals with you before you apply and we do not charge for advice or consent. More information about consent and how to apply for it can be found on our website at www.historicenvironment.scot.

Find out more about scheduling and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.