Marchmont House

Marchmont House lies on the east side of the small town of Greenlaw, and near the former village of Polwarth in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is about five miles (8 km) south west of Duns, about 19 miles (31 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and about 40 miles (64 km) south east of Edinburgh. Situated in a gently undulating landscape, the estate is intersected by Blackadder Water, and its tributary burns. With the Lammermuir Hills to the north and views towards the Cheviot Hills in the south, this part of Berwickshire, sometimes referred to as the Merse, is very scenic and contains rich and fertile agricultural land.

History

The Palladian house was built by Hugh Hume-Campbell, 3rd Earl of Marchmont, in 1750. His bust, albeit a plaster copy, sits on a wall bracket in the saloon. The original is in Mellerstain House, another important Borders house which has intimate historical links with Marchmont. Before its completion the family lived in Redbraes Castle, the diminutive ruins of which can be seen in front of the present house by the steading. At Redbraes lived Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, later Patrick Hume, 1st Earl of Marchmont. His portrait by William Aikman, c 1720, and framed by a George II period gilt mirror, hangs above the chimneypiece in the drawing room. It is not coincidence that a near identical portrait hangs in the Music Room at Mellerstain.

Marchmont

Marchmont is a mainly residential affluent area of Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies roughly a mile to the south of the Old Town, separated from it by The Meadows and Bruntsfield Links. To the west it is bounded by Bruntsfield; to the south-southwest by Greenhill and then Morningside; to the south-southeast by The Grange; and to the east by Sciennes. The name derives from the wife of Sir George Warrender who was daughter to Hume Campbell of Marchmont. Marchmont is an archaic name for Roxburgh Castle, a now destroyed royal fortress in the Scottish marches.

History

The whole area was developed as a planned middle-class tenements suburb by Sir George Warrender, the owner of Bruntsfield House and the surrounding estate (also known as the "Warrender Park") in the mid 19th century. The original feuing plan laid out by architect David Bryce in 1869 called for mainly terraced villas, with a number of large, detached villas on Marchmont Road. However, this was superseded by a later plan that proposed all buildings were four or five-storey tenements. The name Marchmont was originally only used to refer to Marchmont Crescent, Road and Street, but is now used for the whole area. The Warrender name has been retained in the streets Warrender Park Crescent, Road, and Terrace, and also in the Warrender Swim Centre, traditionally known as Warrender Baths.

Marchmont (disambiguation)

Marchmont may refer to:

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