east-lothian-1924/05-167

Transcription

PENCAITLAND.] HISTORICAL MONUMENTS (SCOTLAND) COMMISSION. [PENCAITLAND.

projecting ovals. The pediment has a panel
space, now empty, which has a moulded and
enriched border.
On the upper floor of the main house the
dining room, the adjoining bedroom and the
connecting passages are panelled in Memel pine;
the panelling is painted in the dining room, but
in the passage and bedroom is left in the
original dressed condition. many of the doors
retain the original iron furniture (fig. 131) and
the cornice in the bedroom, which is run in pine
instead of plaster, is noteworthy. In certain
of the rooms presses and cupboards of Memel
pine are boxed out, while two chambers retain
their original fire baskets.
The entrance opens on the foot of a geometric
staircase which ascends from ground to second-
floor level. This is an insertion replacing a
newel stair. Though

[illustration inserted]
FIG. 131.-Door Snecks,
Fountainhall (No. 137).

the stairfoot the
ground floor apart-
ments of the west
and central block
are entered ; the lat-
ter can also be enter-
ed directly through
a doorway in the
south wall, and has its own staircase housed
within a circled tower which projects from the
north wall. The east wing is entered from the
exterior, the upper floor being reached by a
forestair, which adds considerably to the charm
of the south aspect.

HERALDIC PANEL.-A late 17th century stone
panel is inserted in the attic wall of the western
wing just beneath the roofing. It has been
fractured and is incomplete. Within a moulded
border enriched with a cable ornament is a
shield charged with a griffin salient within a
bordure (Lauder) ; the shield is supported by
lions, and beneath is the initial L for Lauder.
This stone has no connection with Fountainhall,
and is said to have been brought from the
Bass to be inserted in the empty panel space
above the garden door.

JOUGS.-A pair of jougs with chain and staple,
which were formerly secured to the dovecot
(see below), are now attached to the exterior
of the south wall.

GATE PIERS.-A few yards west of the house
are two gate piers of late Renaissance character,

88

which may not be in situ. Each pier bears on
the east and west face an oval cast iron panel
displaying a classical figure subject. The panels
are stated to have been cast by the Carron
Iron Company after designs by the mid-18th
century artist Angelica Kauffman.

DOVECOT.-A roofless ruinous dovecot, con-
temporary with the house, stands 100 yards
to the south. It is of rubble and has been
harled ; the entrance, which is in the south
wall, has chamfered jambs and lintel. The plan
is an oblong, measuring 20 feet by 17 feet
10 inches, and the gables are stepped. A few
yards to the west of the dovecot and parallel
therewith an outwardly similar structure has
been erected c. 18th century, apparently for
symmetry. The tenant (1920) of Fountainhall
states that the entrance led originally between
these two structures.

HISTORICAL NOTE.-The barony of Fountain-
hall was constituted in 1685 in favour of John
Lauder of Fountainhall, a merchant burgess
of Edinburgh, who was known also as of
Newington, and Sir John Lauder, advocate,
his son. The lands comprised Easter and
Wester Templehall to the south, Huntland to
the east and Dryburgh lands, and had prev-
iously belonged to a family of Pringle of
Woodhead or Southwood, the King having in
1636 granted to Robert Pringle, Writer to the
Signet, his wife, Violet Cant and John Pringle
his son and heir these lands including South-
wood alias Woodhead, after resignation by
George Cockburn of Ormiston. Robert Pringle
was the builder of the present house, then
known, therefore, as Woodhead, and was
succeeded in Woodhead by John Pringle and
another John before the whole property was
disposed of to Lauder and its name changed.
Sir John Lauder was in 1689 raised to the
bench as Lord Fountainhall, known for his
historical and legal collections. The Lauders
of Fountainhall were connected by rather
remote descent with the Lauders of the Bass,
and bore the white griffin of that family on
their registered arms.

General Register of Sasines, vol. liv, fol. 80 ;
Act. Parl. Scot. vol. viii., p. 568 ; R.M.S.
s.a. 1636 No. 482 ; Stodart's Scottish Arms ii.,
p. 174.