1

THE GARDEN HISTORY SOCIETY IN SCOTLAND

EAST LOTHIAN SURVEY OF GARDENS & DESIGNED LANDSCAPES

RECORDING FORM

A. GENERAL SITE INFORMATION (Expand boxes as necessary)

SITE NAME:

Invereil House

ALTERNATIVE NAMES OR SPELLINGS:

None

ADDRESS AND POSTCODE:

Private ownership

GRID REFERENCE:

NT 5257 8517

LOCAL AUTHORITY:

East Lothian (Historical County Haddingtonshire)

PARISH:

Dirleton

INCLUDED IN AN INVENTORY OF GARDENS & DESIGNED LANDSCAPES IN

SCOTLAND:

No

TYPE OF SITE: (e.g. Landscaped estate, private garden, public park/gardens,

corporate/institutional landscape, cemetery, allotments, or other – please specify)

Private garden and woodland

2

SITE OWNERSHIP & CONTACT: (Where site is in divided ownership please list all

owners and indicate areas owned on map if possible)

The original 10-acre estate at Invereil was feued from part of Linkhouse Wood by John

Laidlay in 1897. By 1993 it was subdivided under four owners sharing access to Dirleton

Road:

1. Invereil House, outbuildings, landscaped garden and woodland with a shared access

avenue to Dirleton Road. Includes a 30 yard buffer zone of rough ground between the

golf links and the north boundary wall.

2. Former coach house and stable with accommodation for a chauffeur, converted to a

single dwelling house in garden ground with a shared access avenue to Dirleton Road.

3. Gate lodge on Dirleton Road.

4. Walled garden surrounded by woodland policies with a shared access avenue to

Dirleton Road.

All currently in private ownership.

SIZE IN HECTARES OR ACRES:

1. Invereil House and garden 1.5 hectares (3.73 acres)

2. Former coach house, stable and garden ground 0.55 hectares (1,53 acres)

3. Gate lodge and garden on Dirleton Road 0.04 hectares (0.1 acre)

4. Walled garden circa 0.4 hectares (1 acre) and circa 1.6 hectares (4 acres)

PUBLIC ACCESS ARRANGEMENTS/OPENING TIMES (If any):

None

NATIONAL & LOCAL AUTHORITY DESIGNATIONS: (e.g. Conservation Area,

Green Belt, Tree Preservation Order(s), Nature Conservation Area, etc.

Linkhouse Wood in which Invereil is located has not been surveyed by East Lothian

Council. There are no Tree Preservation Orders, nor is it a Nature Conservation Area.

LISTED STRUCTURES:

Invereil House, Dirleton Road Category B Listed. 7 December 1988 Ref: HB4838 http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2200:15:0::::BUILDING,HL:4838,Invereil

Invereil Lodge, Quadrant Walls and Gate Piers Category C Listed. 7 December 1988 Ref:

HB1524 http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2200:15:0::::BUILDING,HL:1524,Invereil

Invereil Coach-house Category C Listed. 7 December 1988 Ref: HB1523 http://data.historic-

scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2200:15:0::::BUILDING,HL:1523,Invereil

3

B. HISTORICAL SURVEY INFORMATION: MAPPED,

DOCUMENTARY & PUBLISHED SOURCES MAPPED SOURCES: (please list maps below in date order and attach copies where

possible. Give the description or title, date, maker’s name if known, and for Ordnance

Survey maps give the date of survey, edition number and sheet number)

Unless otherwise stated all map images are reproduced by kind permission of the Trustees of the

National Library of Scotland

Roy Military Survey of Scotland (Lowlands circa1755) showing Linkhouse and Ferrygate Farms © British Library Board. All Rights Reserved

http://maps.nls.uk/geo/roy/#zoom=15&lat=56.05441&lon=-2.7588&layers=0B000000TTT

Map of Haddingtonshire (William Forrest 1802) showing crescent-shaped Linkhouse Wood

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74400256#zoom=5&lat=7478&lon=9909&layers=BT

4

Ordnance Survey First Edition Six Inch to One Mile

Haddingtonshire Sheet 2 Surveyed 1853, Published 1854

http://maps.nls.uk/view/74426935#zoom=6&lat=3902&lon=5808&layers=BT

Ordnance Survey Second & Later Editions 25 Inch to One Mile Haddingtonshire

Sheet 002.11 Revised circa1893, Published 1894 http://maps.nls.uk/view/82885011#zoom=4&lat=8050&lon=2952&layers=BT

5

Ordnance Survey Second & Later Editions 25 Inch to One Mile Haddingtonshire

Sheet 002.11 Revised circa1906, Published 1907 http://maps.nls.uk/view/82885014#zoom=4&lat=8332&lon=2152&layers=BT

Ordnance Survey Second & Later Editions 25 inch to One Mile Haddingtonshire

Sheet 002.11 Revised circa1938, Published 1945 [in outline only as the revision survey

documents were lost during enemy action in World War II]. http://maps.nls.uk/view/82885017#zoom=4&lat=8325&lon=2280&layers=BT

See illustration in Section 5. VIEWS, VISTAS etc

Bacon, G W (Ed.) (1907), Popular Atlas of the British Isles, (Bacon. London)

6

PRIMARY & DOCUMENTARY SOURCES: (plans, manuscript documents and other

estate records) Please list material consulted in date order and attach copies where

possible. Give description of material, and location and reference number of archival

holding.

For J E Laidlay. Plan, sections and elevations [of Invereil House]. Dick Peddie & McKay

(12/1897) Dick Peddie Archive (RCAHMS DPM 1890/84/1).

For J E Laidlay. Plan, sections and elevations [of Invereil House], including Ordnance

survey map of area. Dick Peddie & McKay (6/1898) Dick Peddie Archive (RCAHMS

DPM 1890/84/2).

For J E Laidlay. Details of boudoir, entrance door, and principal staircase. General plan

of Mr Laidlay’s feu. Plan, sections and elevations of [Invereil] gate lodge, including

details. Dick Peddie & McKay (2/1899) Dick Peddie Archive (RCAHMS DPM

1890/84/4).

For J E Laidlay and later for Graham Wright. Drainage plans. Plans of alterations and

additions [at Invereil House]. Dick Peddie & McKay (3/1906) Dick Peddie Archive

(RCAHMS DPM 1890/84/5).

Gate Lodge Dirleton. Detail of front gate [for Invereil House]. Dick Peddie & McKay

(1898) Dick Peddie Archive (RCAHMS DP002945).

Register of Sasines (RS) (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh)

Valuation Rolls (VR) (National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh)

HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS & PICTORIAL SOURCES: (drawings, paintings,

photographs, aerial photographs etc. Include type, subject, artist, source or reference

location, and date if known)

Darling, H M (22/8/1904) Country House [Photograph] Album (RCAHMS PA 78/27/2)

20 July 1940, RAF Second World War Aerial Reconnaissance B&W oblique aerial

image, near Invereil House East Lothian, facing S. (RCAHMS 006-004-003-015-C)

19 June 1941, RAF Second World War Aerial Reconnaissance B&W vertical aerial

image, near Ferrygate Dirleton East Lothian [Scale 1:18000]. (RCAHMS 006-004-003-

587-C)

7

Rose Beds in Front of the South Façade (Darling 1904, RCAHMS PA 78/27/2) © RCAHMS

The Walled Garden in 1970 with Sundial, Glasshouses and Brick Pillars of Former Pergola

(Private Collection)

1970 Private collection, 35mm colour transparencies of walled garden.

07 June 1988, All Scotland Survey colour vertical aerial image near Hummel Ridges,

North Berwick East Lothian [Scale 1:24000]. (RCAHMS 006-005-000-995-C)

Google Earth (2006).

8

BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLISHED SOURCES: (Statistical Accounts, Gazetteers,

Directories, Travel Accounts etc.). Please list publications consulted in alphabetical

order. Complete details of author, title, journal or periodical, and date, volume/edition

and page numbers where relevant.

Bacon, G W (Ed.) (1907), Popular Atlas of the British Isles, Bacon. London

Census 1901 and 1911 www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Dictionary of Scottish Architects 1840–1980 (DSA) www.scottisharchitects.org.uk

Hall, D & Bowler, D, North Berwick, East Lothian: its archaeology revisited. Proc Soc

Antiq Scot, 127 (1997), 659–75.

Historic Scotland http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

Jekyll, G (1914), Wood and Garden, Longman, p.214.

Kenneth Ryden and Partners (1985) Invereil House, by Dirleton, North Berwick, East

Lothian: [sale particulars], Edinburgh (RCAHMS D.7.13.INV.S)

Knight Frank and Rutley (1992) Invereil House, by Dirleton, North Berwick, East

Lothian: [sale particulars], Edinburgh. (RCAHMS D.7.13.INV.S)

Knight Frank and Strutt & Parker (2011) Invereil House, by Dirleton, North Berwick,

East Lothian: [sale particulars], Edinburgh.

McWilliam, C (1978), Buildings of Scotland: Lothian, Yale.

Mosley, Charles (Ed.) (2003) Burke’s Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage 107th

ed.

Wilmington accessed via www.thepeerage.com.

http://www.northberwick.org.uk/laidlay.html.

http://www.northberwick.org.uk/walks_2.html.

PRINCIPAL PERIODS OF DEVELOPMENT:

See Section D Summary History of the Site

PRINCIPAL ARCHITECTS/DESIGNERS ASSOCIATED WITH SITE: (please

reference source of information)

(Source: Dictionary of Scottish Architects and Dick Peddie Archive)

1897 George Washington Browne and 1897–9 http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200049 to build Invereil, the coach-house and gate lodge for JOHN F S LAIDLAY, who would

have been familiar with the recent work of these architectural firms in their various

incarnations

Kinnear & Dick Peddie 1890 http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=202322

Peddie & Washington Browne 1895 at North Berwick Golf Club, and Dick Peddie &

Washington Browne 1896 at Milton Lodge in Abbotsford Road)

http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200363

1906 Dick Peddie & McKay carried out alterations for JOHN LAIDLAY.

1920 James S Richardson of Richardson & McKay carried out alterations for the new

9

owner, GRAHAM WRIGHT http://www.scottisharchitects.org.uk/architect_full.php?id=200932

ORAL RECORDS/REMINISCENSES Please include a list of any people interviewed

during the course of research/survey work. Include name and role of interviewee (e.g.

family member, former employee, local resident), date of conversation and major dates,

features or events recalled. Attach a transcript of the conversation if possible:

The proprietor of Invereil House, the surrounding landscaped garden, and part of

Linkhouse Wood (interviewed 20 April 2013):

Having purchased West Invereil House and East Invereil House in 1993, he returned the

two wings to a single mansion house, but has retained their separate services. From the

first floor Living Room it was possible to see the outstanding views to the north. On a

tour of the garden he pointed out a long curved ridge on the lawn, which marks the site of

the original carriage drive between the coach house and the mansion house. He also

recounted a local legend which says the ground now occupied by the garden of Invereil

was an assembly area for pilgrims sailing from the Broad Sands to Earlsferry and,

ultimately, to St Andrews in Fife. This is supported by the name of the nearby farm,

Ferrygate – (For source see ANY OTHER FEATURES NOT INCLUDED ABOVE)

The proprietor of the policies, paddock and walled garden (interviewed 26 June 2013):

He spent holidays with his grandmother, ARMORER, COUNTESS of BREADALBANE

in Invereil House in the 1950s and 1960s and recalled how attractive the walled garden

and rhododendron and azalea walk had been then when they were looked after by a single

gardener (BILL LOCKIE). When the mansion house was sold in 1969, he moved to the

coach house, which he sold in 1993 to a local doctor. He pointed out some original

features in the now very overgrown walled garden like the 7-foot high brick columns

which he remembered supporting roses on wooden trellises. These are similar to the

pergola with stone columns and overhead rustic boughs illustrated in Gertude Jekyll,

Wood and Garden which was first published in 1899, the year Invereil was completed.

He also found traces of what he remembered as an attractive water feature in the 1980s.

This was a narrow canal which ran from the south lawn of Invereil House towards the

walled garden, into a small lozenge-shaped lily pond which had a stone heron in the

middle. The water tap which fed this feature from the house still functions but only the

heron’s feet remain guarding the overgrown pool. Traces of a stone-terraced Primula bed

can also be seen along the east side of the canal.

C. SITE SURVEY Use map provided to mark positions and boundaries. Take

photographs where possible.

ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS Note the materials used, the dates and styles of

various phases of development, and category of listing if appropriate

PRINCIPAL HOUSE OR BUILDING:

Invereil House

10

Invereil House

A 3-storey and attic building. The roof is of blue slate roof. The walls are built mainly

from locally quarried red trachyte Rattlebags rubble, snecked and coursed, with dressings

of smooth red sandstone, which may also have been quarried locally [source unknown].

The initials of the first owner and date of completion [JEL 1899] are on stone plaque high

on the S façade while above the main entrance at the W end is a stone carved with the

floral, and national, motifs of thistle, rose and shamrock.

The main entrance leads by a wide staircase up to the principal rooms which are located

at first floor level in the west and centre of the house. A large bracketed balcony with

balusters spans two windows and a French door in the Living Room with a view south

towards the walled garden. A smaller doorway at ground floor level at the east end of the

south façade leads through a corbelled turret to the projecting servants’ wing.

11

Thistle, Rose & Shamrock Doorway to the Servants’ Wing

over the Main Entrance

Window and Balcony Detail Including 1899 Datestone on the South Façade

12

Timber sash and case windows (6 over 1) light the larger rooms, while the windows in

the service rooms have mainly 6 over 6 small panes. A single bay projecting west and

recessed from the south façade houses a Billiard Room with a Drawing Room above on

the first floor which has windows providing panoramic views to the north and west. The

north façade is more symmetrical than the south as the projecting gable of the Drawing

Room wing is balanced by the Morning Room. Each wing has a corbelled turret in the re-

entrant angle. The north-facing windows and small first-floor balcony off the Living

Room turret give panoramic views of Lamb and Fidra Islands (with its Stevenson

lighthouse), and of the Firth of Forth and Fife coast in the distance. From here LAIDLAY

and his sister Faith (both champion golfers) would also have had a grand stand view of

the links just beyond the north boundary wall.

Balcony and First Floor Windows with Views to the North and West

13

View of the Golf Links, Fidra Lighthouse and the Fife Coast Beyond

OFFICES (stables, outbuildings, etc):

Stable/coach house (Arts & Crafts).

Coach House and Stables

Modern gym/sauna (in an original outbuilding).

Garages (Modern).

14

HOME FARM OR MAINS:

None

BOUNDARIES (External & internal; estate walls, ha-has, park fences etc.):

The original policies had a rubble wall varying in height from 6 feet to 9 feet with

capstones. The north face is now bowing outwards and the lime mortar is missing in

many places. Remedial work is urgently required to avoid collapse. Where the wall is at

its highest, the upper 6 feet are of un-coursed Rattlebags rubble while the lower 3 feet are

of un-coursed mixed fieldstones, which include some very dark red sandstone. This break

in continuity suggests that an existing farm boundary wall was heightened. [The square

steading and horse gin gang at Link House Farm are shown in ruins in the 1853 Ordnance

Survey map.] Laidlay had two doorways built into the north boundary wall to give easy

access to the 8th

fairway of the golf course, where he is said to have played every day.

[Metal cups for practicing putting can still be found in the north lawn.] The narrow and

simple east door, which also gave pedestrian access to Abbotsford Road and North

Berwick, is in poor condition while the west door, tall and wide enough for a horse and

rider, has dressed red sandstone facings and ball finials.

Servants’ Pedestrian Access to North Berwick

15

Horse & Pedestrian Access Door to Golf Links and Beach

The surrounding stonework is in good condition, although the door has recently been

repaired externally with a plywood sheet. The 1.27-acre western extension of the policies

into Linkhouse Wood (by JOHNSTON in 1993) is bounded by wire fencing and

immature Corsican and Monterey pine trees (RS1993-1-25 269/8). Mature pollarded

beech forms a hedge along the S side of the access avenue by the Eel Burn.

GATES/GATE LODGES:

Lodge Category C listed:

A single-storey symmetrical three-bay building by Peddie & Washington Browne in Arts

& Crafts rustic style (1898) which, along with the coach house and stables, contrasts with

the Scottish Baronial style of the main house of the same date. The lodge is externally

unchanged since it was first completed, apart from the addition of a small extension to the

rear. The piend roof with swept eaves is of blue slate [source unknown] with two

centrally located chimneys of red brick with moulded coping (one harled). The west

elevation has small-paned casement windows and a depressed arched doorway with

moulded upper surround and a door with a small-paned upper panel. As at Invereil

House, the lodge is built from locally quarried red trachyte [volcanic] Rattlebags rubble,

snecked and coursed, with dressings of red sandstone ashlar, which may also have been

quarried locally [source unknown].

16

Gate Lodge, Quadrant Piers and Original, Carved Wooden Gate Posts

The Cleft Chestnut Fencing is Recent.

Gate Lodge Leading to an Avenue of Sycamores

Quadrants and piers: ashlar coped, Rattlebag quadrant and circular piers with conical

caps and ball finials: main entrance to the south on Dirleton Road. The present

proprietors both remember wooden gates in ruinous condition in the 1990s which were

similar to but lower than those designed in three sections for Invereil by Dick Peddie &

McKay in 1898.

17

Design for Front Gate by Dick Peddie & McKay, 1898 (RCAHMS DP002945) © RCAHMS

The low gates are now missing but the wooden gateposts with their carved finials survive (2013)

GARDEN BUILDINGS (Summer houses, view houses, temples, grottoes etc):

Recent square wooden summer house elevated on a three-foot terrace W of the house to

give views to the golf links and coast over the north boundary wall.

CHAPELS/MAUSOLEUMS/BURIAL GROUNDS:

None

CONSERVATORIES/FERNERIES:

None

18

GARDEN STATUARY (Fountains, statues, sundials, monuments etc.) Note any

inscriptions:

Older features, possibly original:

A sundial (seen in 1970 image, but now missing) stood in the walled garden at the centre

of the cruciform arrangement of brick columns which may have supported a pergola.

Brick Piers Which May Have Supported a Pergola as Shown by Gertrude Jekyll

19

Design for a Brick and Oak Pergola (Jekyll 1914, first published 1899)

Only the feet remain of a stone heron which stood on a rock in the centre of a small

lozenge-shaped pool north of the walled garden.

20

Heron’s Feet in Pool Beside Terraced Primula Bed

Features installed since 1993 include various stone and metal nymphs, birds and a

fountain.

BURIAL GROUNDS/CEMETERIES (Note principal memorials and headstones with

inscriptions where possible):

None

BRIDGES:

The avenue is carried over the Eel Burn on a simple flat bridge of unknown date.

TERRACES (Including steps & stairways):

Post-1993

Originally a level garden, a platform around three feet high was made west of Invereil

House on which a modern square summer house was constructed to give views over the

boundary wall to the golf links and the Firth of Forth beyond.

21

Summer House Raised to Give Views of Golf Links and Beach

WALLED GARDENS (Including potting sheds, bothies, glasshouse ranges etc.):

A sub-rectangular garden of just under 1 acre is shown complete with glasshouses (maker

unknown), brick boiler room and gardener’s shed on the 1906 Ordnance Survey map.

They may date from circa 1899, contemporary with the completion of Invereil House.

The 8-foot high hard, bright red brick garden walls have recently collapsed in several

places under fallen trees and the entire garden is overgrown with nettles and inaccessible

in summer. A mature sycamore tree now stands within the foundations of the glasshouses

but the boiler room still has a ruinous iron boiler in situ against the outer side of the north

wall, beside a brick gardener’s shed. There were three single wooden doors into the

walled garden, north, south and east. The last has disappeared in a wall collapse. A water

supply was piped from Invereil House.

The corrugated iron potting shed which lies against the original boundary of the policies

north-west of the walled garden is still in use. It may date from circa 1899, contemporary

with the house.

22

Remains of the South-Facing Glasshouse Range in the Walled Garden

Early Potting Shed North-West of the Walled Garden

23

AVENUES, CARRIAGE DRIVES, ORNAMENTAL WALKS, SERVICE DRIVES

ETC:

Carriage drives:

The only carriage access to Invereil House and the coach house (stables) was and is by a

narrow avenue from Dirleton Road. Initially, the avenue runs north from the gate lodge

through arable land (which is in other ownership), lined on each side with a single row of

mature sycamore trees, probably planted in 1898–9. After crossing the Eel Burn by a flat

bridge, the drive curves east through dense and possibly ‘ancient’ mixed woodland

around the walled kitchen garden, passing the coach house, which lies against the east

boundary of the estate, finally arriving dramatically on the gravel sweep at the main

entrance on the previously hidden south façade of Invereil House. Originally a narrow

carriage drive also ran inside the north boundary wall from the coach house to the east

end of the mansion house, but its course is now barely visible as a curving grassy bank in

the north lawn (interview current proprietor).

Former Carriage Drive From the Stables (Right) to Invereil House (Extreme Right)

The carriage drive may have fallen out of use as early as 1905 when the family acquired a

motor car which would have been garaged at the east end of Invereil House rather than in

the coach house. JAMES TURNBULL was described in 1901 as a coachman living the

coach house with his family (www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk 31/03/1901 Laidlay, John Earnest

[Census 1901 705 001/00 008]) but by 1905 they had been replaced there by a chauffeur,

WILLIAM SMITH and his family (VR99/24/28).

24

ROCKERIES:

None

WATER FEATURES (natural & man-made including rivers, cascades, lochs, pools

etc.):

It is not known if the narrow canal running from the south lawn of Invereil House to a

small lozenge-shaped lily pond near the north door of the walled garden is original (circa

1898–9) or was constructed around 1938 when the Rhododendrons, Azaleas and Primulas

were thought to have been planted by the Hutchinsons (interview current proprietor).

Although a tapped water supply from the house to the canal, pond and walled garden is

available, the canal is dry pond and only the stone heron’s feet remain on a rock in the

middle of the overgrown pond.

Modern (post-1993)

At the east end of the north lawn is a lily pond with a central bowl and fountain

[overgrown, and gated for safety with a post and wire fence]. In the extension to the

garden west of the original boundary wall a duck pond has been created.

ANY OTHER FEATURES NOT INCLUDED ABOVE (Include any historic or modern

feature and indicate past or current use where possible):

As a child in the 1860s, Robert Louis Stevenson spent holidays at North Berwick with his

cousin Charles and one of their favourite play areas was Longskelly Point and Broad

Sands where the Eel [or Eil] Burn entered the sea. The Eel Burn then lay a mile west of

the end of the golf links but today it cuts through the 7th

and 12th

fairways and is an

integral part of the course. Calling it the Cressy Burn, Stevenson placed his characters

David Balfour and Alan Breck here when they reached the coast in his novel Catriona

(1893). He borrowed from the local scenery in Treasure Island (1883) too, using

Yellowcraig as a model for ‘Spy-glass Hill’ and offering readers a map of his island in

the first edition in which they might well have recognised the familiar horseshoe outline

of Fidra. While the lighthouse was being built by the engineering company founded by

his grandfather, Stevenson and his father landed several times on Fidra to witness

progress in the construction. It was completed in 1885 and automated in 1970. Fidra is

now owned by the RSPB and home to a small population of guillemots, razorbills,

herring gulls and puffins.

PLANTED ELEMENTS: The garden or park should divide up naturally and

historically into different areas, e.g. ornamental gardens, parkland, walled garden,

policy planting. Each area should be delineated on a plan and current use noted.

1. ORNAMENTAL GROUNDS

GRASSED AREAS (Lawns, meadows, terraces):

The lawns are level to the north and south of Invereil House while the one on the west is

raised by a three-foot terrace.

25

FLOWER BEDS (Indicate theme or type – parterres, perennial herbaceous

border/annual bedding where possible. Note whether significant plant collection):

1899 planting:

Rose beds seen in a postcard circa 1904 are no longer in evidence.

Circa 1938 planting:

The location of a terraced bed of rare Primulas was traced but there were very few plants

in evidence (interview current proprietor).

Recent planting (since 1993):

There is a very fine long and deep herbaceous border of perennials against the north

boundary wall, mainly replacing roses. Annual bedding has been planted elsewhere in

narrow beds along the edges of lawns.

SHRUBBERY INCLUDING HEDGES & TOPIARY (Include details of height, species

etc. if possible):

Circa1938 planting:

Avenue of rare Rhododendrons and Azaleas planted north-west of the walled garden by

LORD and LADY HUTCHISON [proprietors 1938–48] but now almost lost (personal

communication current proprietor).

Rare Rhododendrons and Azaleas From the 1930s

Recent planting (since 1993):

Low box hedges trimmed to 1 foot edge the grassed areas south and east of the house.

26

Yews trimmed to 8-foot pillars run in four parallel lines in the ornamental garden area

east of the house.

Recently Planted Yew Pillars

ORNAMENTAL TREE PLANTING (Single specimens, groups, woodland gardens –

include details of age and species if possible):

Woodland gardens with Corsican and Monterey pine were used as a wind break on the

west side.

27

Shelterbelt of 1890s and More Recent Corsican and Monterey Pine

A few of the late 1890s pines survive in poor condition but most have fallen or been

felled and replaced since 1993 with the same species. Mixed coniferous and deciduous

woodland elsewhere, particularly oak and sycamore.

From air photography and satellite imagery, Linkhouse Wood appears to have total tree

cover apart from the area cleared for the site of Invereil House itself with its lawn to the

north and west and the gravel sweep and small lawn to the south. Only the eastern half of

the walled garden is clear of trees (RAF 1940, Google Earth 2006).

AVENUE PLANTING (May also cross parkland and policy planting. Note predominant

species and whether single or double planted if possible:

Avenue planting within policies: (see SHRUBBERY above)

Carriage drive:

28

The single planting of sycamores on either side of the avenue from Dirleton Road

running north to the Eel Burn probably dates from 1898–9. After bridging the Eel Burn,

the drive swings to the east around the walled garden, with a single line of beech trees

pollarded as a hedge to around 10 feet in height on the south side. Turning north again

past the coach house, the drive runs through dense mixed woodland until it reaches the

gravelled sweep and lawn in front of the south façade of Invereil House.

ANY OTHER ORNAMENTAL PLANTING FEATURE NOT COVERED ABOVE:

None

2. KITCHEN GARDENS AND ORCHARDS

KITCHEN GARDENS (walled, hedged or other boundary. Note any other historical

features and current use)

By 1906:

A 1 acre sub-rectangular kitchen garden walled in hard red brick was constructed,

possibly as early as 1899, in a clearance of mixed and possibly ‘ancient’ woodland south

of house and north and west of the main carriage drive. It had south-facing glasshouses

on the north wall while outside, behind the glasshouses, were a gardener’s shed and a

boiler room both built in the same red brick.

In 1940:

Aerial photographs show the northern end of the walled garden bisected north–south and

east–west by broad paths between brick columns in a cruciform arrangement. These are

in the style described by Gertrude Jekyll in Wood and Garden, first published in 1899,

the year Invereil was completed. Her illustration of a pergola with brick piers, linked

overhead by beams of rough oak, is reproduced here from the 1914 edition. Miss Jekyll

advised that ‘Ten feet from pier to pier along the path is a good proportion, or anything

from eight to ten feet, and they should stand seven feet two inches out of the ground.’

The Invereil columns are approximately of this height and stand around ten feet apart.

(OS 1906, RAF 1940, Jekyll 1914).

By 1938:

A narrow canal, lily pond and terraced primula bed are evident between the south lawn

and the walled garden. These may either be features from the original garden circa 1899,

which are simply not shown on the Ordnance Survey edition of 1906, or constructed by a

later owner. (Ordnance Survey 1938).

By the 1950s and 1960s:

The brick columns were linked horizontally by wooden trellises supporting roses

(interview current proprietor). It is not known if they were originally also linked overhead

with timber.

2013:

In strong contrast to the 1970 image in this report, the walled garden is overgrown, with

29

the walls mainly to full height but collapsed in places due to fallen trees. Internally the

brick columns stand but the glasshouses have collapsed. Externally, the brick gardeners’

shed and boiler room, still with its cast-iron boiler, are all ruinous.

ORCHARDS (walled, hedged or other boundary. Note any other historical features and

current use)

Post-1993

Apple trees planted in the 1993 extension of the garden westwards.

3. PARKLAND

GRASSED AREAS (Note current use, amenity grassland, agricultural use – grazing,

cultivation etc.):

None

TREE PLANTING (Individual specimens, clumps, belts, roundels etc. Note species if

possible, and whether fenced):

None

ANY OTHER PARKLAND FEATURE NOT INCLUDED ABOVE:

None

4. POLICY WOODLAND PLANTING

COMPOSITION (Note composition of woodland; deciduous/coniferous/mixed, and

principal species if possible. Note current use e.g. commercial timber cropping/amenity

woodland):

The woodland was specifically referred to for shooting in sales transactions and valuation

rolls: by LORD HUTCHISON in 1938 (RS1938-03-14 378/215) and (VR99/38/579VR)

in 1945/6.and by the EARL of BREADALBANE in 1948 (RS1948-04-17 415/171) and

(VR99/53/45) in 1955/6.

This mixed woodland, part of the ‘ancient’ Linkhouse Wood, is heavily overgrown and

not currently used for shooting.

ANY OTHER POLICY WOODLAND FEATURE NOT INCLUDED ABOVE:

None

30

5. VIEWS, VISTAS, BORROWED LANDSCAPE & PERIPHERAL AREAS,

KEY VIEWS (please note views inwards to the house, outwards from the house and

internally within the landscape):

The borrowed landscape from the first and upper floors of the west and north sides of

Invereil House is a key to Laidlay’s choice of site for the house. This spectacular 180-

degree distant panorama runs from the Forth Railway Bridge west of Edinburgh, north by

way of the Fife coast, to the Isle of Mey, Fife Ness and the mouth of the Firth of Forth in

the east. The volcanic islands of the Bass Rock, Craigleith, Lamb and Fidra (with its

lighthouse) close to the East Lothian coast provide Invereil with an outstanding eye-

catching vista from the north-facing windows and the small first-floor balcony off the

Morning Room turret. The former pilgrim route from the Broad Sands by Ferrygate to

Earlsferry and on to St Andrews in Fife lies in full view of Invereil. The second key to

the choice of site was the links golf course, for Laidlay was a Champion Amateur Golfer

who played almost every day. The high north boundary wall which he built to give

privacy to his family had two gates through which he and his sister Faith, another expert

golfer, had immediate access to the 8th

fairway. Laidlay lived at Invereil for 20 years,

moving away only to live beside another noted golf course at Sunningdale in Berkshire.

Views and vistas from Invereil House clockwise from the left: Edinburgh and Leith, Forth Rail

Bridge, Fife coast, Isle of Mey, Bass Rock (based on Bacon, 1907)

Apart from the Billiard Room, the ground floor is mainly servants’ quarters from which

there is no view beyond the garden. The upper floors can be seen at a distance from the

golf links north of the high boundary wall. Google Earth imagery from 2006 shows that

Invereil House is totally screened by mature mixed woodland, except from the north, and

from space. This pattern was established in 1897 when only the areas of Linkhouse Wood

31

required for buildings and laying out the walled garden and lawns were cleared, with the

remainder of the wood being retained for shelter and recreational shooting.

Invereil Looking South From the Golf Links

BORROWED LANDSCAPE (please note any features, natural or man-made, lying

outside the designed landscape which act as eye-catchers or contribute to the outward

views)

See KEY VIEWS above.

PERIPHERAL AREAS (please note any features lying outside the main landscape but

which are clearly designed e.g. regularly spaced roadside/field boundary trees, estate

walls etc.):

The still-occupied cottages associated with Linkhouse Farm can be seen from the garden

to the east of the boundary wall. They are a reminder to the proprietors of Invereil that

Linkhouse Wood, which was partially cleared in 1897 to establish the estate, may well

have been planted in the 18th

century as shelter for the farm. The farmhouse and steading

are shown on the Roy map of around 1755 but recorded as ruins 100 years later

(Ordnance Survey 1853).

32

Linkhouse Cottages, the Remnant of Linkhouse Farm

GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON CURRENT CONDITION OR CARE OF THE

LANDSCAPE

Invereil House in its surrounding 4.73 acres has been for sale since 2011. A housekeeper

and gardener are currently employed. The house was well built and the fabric is in good

condition. The avenue from Dirleton Road, which is shared by the proprietors of the

former coach house and of the walled garden, is also well maintained. The north

boundary wall is bowing outwards in places and in need of pointing.

The former coach house and surrounding garden ground are in separate ownership and

well maintained.

The gate lodge and surrounding garden ground are in separate ownership and well

maintained.

The policies around the walled garden are also in separate ownership but overgrown.

Inside the walled garden the glasshouses have collapsed and the main walls partially

damaged in places by falling trees. The vertical brick columns of the pergola survive.

SURVEY DRAWINGS AND/OR PHOTOGRAPHS

Please include a list and copies where possible of any drawings, photographs made/taken

during the ground survey.

A selection of survey photographs is included in this document. A full set of photographs

taken in 2013/14 by RJ & BA Morris and also a private collection taken in 1970 by the

proprietor of the walled garden are available, together with a paper copy of this recording

form in the John Gray Centre, East Lothian Archives, Haddington. A digital record is

33

available on CANMORE (RCAHMS). Unless otherwise stated, all images are copyright

RJ & BA Morris

D. SUMMARY HISTORY OF THE SITE

This section should be set out in chronological form and should include information on

the way the site has developed and changed since it was first recorded, using dates and

maps where possible. The names of owners, architects or designers involved, and

relevant historical events should be recorded, and the sources noted.

Forrest’s survey of 1799 clearly indicates woodland at Yellow Craig, Ferrygate,

Carlekemp and Linkhouse. Although the last two are unnamed, the plantation on Dirleton

Common in the precise half-moon shape that persists to this day around Invereil House is

without doubt the eastern end of Linkhouse Wood. It is not known how ‘ancient’

Linkhouse Wood actually is although Prof. T C Smout, Historiographer Royal for

Scotland, thinks that pine, beech and sycamore were probably planted as shelter to the

west of Linkhouse in the 18th

century (personal communication). Linkhouse is marked in

the style of farm buildings on the Military Survey of Scotland (Roy 1755) and, although

there may have been woodland nearby, it is not specifically shown by Roy. Only the farm

cottages remained by 1853, when the main Linkhouse Farm steading is shown as ruins by

the Ordnance Survey. In 1893, the east end of Linkhouse Wood is still shown as intact by

the Ordnance Survey but, within 4 years, it would be partially cleared for the building of

Invereil.

1897–99

The east portion Linkhouse Wood (circa 10 acres) was feued from HENRY THOMAS

NISBET HAMILTON OGILVY of Archerfield and East Fenton by JOHN ERNEST

LAIDLAY, Champion Amateur Golfer born 1860 Seacliff House North Berwick, died

1940 Sunningdale Berks (http://www.northberwick.org.uk/laidlay.html). Partial clearance of

Linkhouse Wood was followed by construction of Invereil House, coach house (stables)

boundary walls and a walled garden of circa 1 acre. Also included in the feu was land for

a 30-yard buffer between the north boundary wall and the golf links.

An access strip through the arable and woodland was purchased from Ferrygate (Dirleton

Estate) for an avenue to Dirleton Road, where a gate lodge, quadrant and piers and a

wooden gate were constructed. Dick Peddie & McKay designed high wooden gates.

Although Invereil House is a visual stopping point at the west end of Abbotsford Road,

the only carriage access is via the gated avenue to the south on Dirleton Road. The two

doors in the north boundary wall which give access to Abbotsford Road are only for

pedestrians, or possibly horses.

1920

Invereil House and stables were purchased by JOHN GRAHAM WRIGHT, ship owner

and timber broker, Glasgow (RS1920-05-15). He commissioned plans for alterations to

the house by Richardson & McKay (Dick Peddie Archive). In 1920–21 the dwelling at

34

the stables was unoccupied (VR99/28/536). By 1925–6, JAMES PATON, the chauffeur

lived there (VR99/28/312) while JAMES LAW occupied the lodge. LAW had been

gardener since at least 1901 (Census 1901 705 001/00 008).

1926

Invereil House, offices, stable, lodge and land sold to NORA JANE CRAIG MILLAR

COLVILLE or PELHAM-BURN, wife of CAPT. JAMES RUSSELL PELHAM-BURN,

Seaforth Highlanders (RS1926-02-17). In 1930, JOHN REID was recorded as gardener

(VR99/31/21).

1938

Invereil House, stables, land, woodland and shootings were sold to LORD and LADY

HUTCHISON of London (RS1938-03-14 378/215 and RS1938-07-26 380/90). He was

Major-General Robert Hutchison, 1st and last Baron Hutchison of Montrose (1873–1950),

Member of Parliament for Kirkcaldy (1922–3) and Montrose (1924–32). They planted a

walk north-west of the walled garden with rare rhododendrons and azaleas, and possibly

also laid out the narrow canal leading from the south lawn to the lozenge-shaped lily

pond (interview current proprietor). By 1940, no resident gardener is recorded but a

chauffeur, CECIL MORRIS, was living in the house at the stables while RAF personnel

occupied the gate lodge (VR99/36/24). But, by 1945, CECIL MORRIS had become the

head gardener, living in the stables, while JOHN LORIMER, gardener was living in the

gate lodge (VR99/38/579). Traditionally, when Invereil employed two gardeners, the

head gardener lived in the stables and the under gardener in the lodge.

1948

Invereil House, stables, land, woodland and shootings were sold to the 9th

EARL of

BREADALBANE (1889–1959) (RS1948-04-17 415/171). His widow, ARMORER,

COUNTESS of BREADALBANE inherited. She died in 1987. By 1950, ANDREW

MACCORMICK was head gardener (stables) and JOHN WILSON under gardener

(lodge) (VR99/42/29). By 1955, WALTER WALCZEK was under gardener (lodge)

(VR99/53/45).

1960s-?

BILL LOCKIE, a brother of the Duke of Buccleuch’s head gardener at Bowhill, was the

single resident gardener (interview current proprietor).

1969

The estate was split into north and south sections. Invereil House and 3.46 acres of

surrounding landscape gardens on the north side were sold by HUGO ROMER

NICHOLSON (elder son of ARMORER, COUNTESS of BREADALBANE) to JANET

CHALMERS KIRBY of North Berwick (RS1969-11-20). ARMORER, COUNTESS of

BREADALBANE, and ultimately her heir MARK NICHOLSON, retained ownership of

the wooded policies, the walled garden and the coach house and stables, which were

converted into a single dwellinghouse.

35

1974

MRS KIRBY split Invereil House vertically into two dwelling houses, each with its own

services but with shared access to some offices and to Dirleton Road by the avenue

(RS1974-07-03). She sold the main rooms and a ground-floor flat in the west as one

property to EDWARD ROY KURYS of Edinburgh and the E wing, mainly comprising

the former servants’ quarters, to CHRISTOPHER SYDNEY HUDSON (b.1910, d.2005,

formerly of Special Operations Executive).

1986

West house purchased by THOMAS GORDON ORANGE of Harrogate (RS1986-01-22).

1993

West section of Invereil House with 3.46 acres of garden and woodland and shared

access to Dirleton Road purchased from the Allied Irish Bank by HARRY JOHNSTON,

the current proprietor (RS1993-02-23). He also purchased the east wing from HUDSON

(RS1993-07-21) and 1.27 acres of Linkhouse Wood from Ferrygate Farm (RS1993-10-

25). The coach house with 1.354 acres of garden ground and shared access avenue to

Dirleton Road was purchased from MARK JULIAN NICHOLSON by DR MORGAN

WILLIAM FLYNN (RS1993-12-20).

1999

East and West Invereil House were converted back to a single property by JOHNSTON,

the current proprietor. However, the two independent sets of services were retained and

remain separate today (interview 20 April 2013).

2011

Invereil House and 4.73 acres of formal garden and mixed woodland for sale by the

current proprietor. Surrounding the house there are lawns flanked by formal herbaceous

borders [the ghost of the Victorian layout], a circular lily pond [overgrown] with fountain

bowl. The 1.27 acres of Linkhouse Wood to the west of the original boundary wall added

to the policies in 1993 now includes a shelter belt of Eucalyptus, Beech, Scots Pine, and a

duck pond, polytunnel, vegetable garden, hen coup and kennels. Planning permission for

an all-weather tennis court has lapsed.

THE PILGRIM ROUTE

North Berwick owed much of its early importance to its location on the pilgrim route to

the shrine of St Andrew. St Andrews is particularly affected by the peninsular geography

of Fife, and is not readily accessible by land despite its ecclesiastical importance. This is

also true of other early Christian centres, Iona being an extreme example, and emphasises

the crucial importance of maritime travel in early medieval Scotland. The crossing from

North Berwick to Earlsferry was the quickest route for pilgrims travelling from the south

to St Andrews, and avoided long inland journeys on both sides of the Forth. The precise

boarding point for pilgrims in North Berwick is not certain; it has been suggested that it

may have originally been closer to Dirleton at the Broad Sands, close by Ferrygate Farm

(Ferrier 1991, 14) but, if so, it must soon have moved to North Berwick Bay. Small boats,

or tenders to larger ones, probably beached to embark and disembark pilgrims at Broad

36

Sands, and could still have beached on the sands at North Berwick. The crossing is quite

a long one (18 km) for a small boat, and the ferry service may have been very busy at the

height of the season, so there may have been more substantial arrangements for boarding

larger boats directly, perhaps located like the present harbour on the small rocky

peninsula called Kirk Ness at the east end of North Berwick Bay. There are references to

the harbour works in 1632 and 1726 (Simpson & Stevenson 1981, 18), and it was

certainly in place by the time of Bishop Pococke's visit in 1760 (Kemp 1887, 319), while

nearby is the ruin of the earliest parish church, established before 1177 and dedicated to

St Andrew, suggesting a strong link with the pilgrim traffic. Also a ferryboat was chosen

as the theme for the burgh's heraldic coat of arms, demonstrating the importance to the

burgh of the pilgrim ferry. The ferry route seems to have existed until the late 17th

century, but use by pilgrims would have ceased in the 16th century as a result of the

Reformation, and might have been in decline earlier. At a much earlier date, the sack

(1296) and loss (1333) of Berwick-upon-Tweed extinguished a major centre of

population in southern Scotland, while the ensuing long wars with England would have

discouraged any movement of pilgrims from south of the border. This may have

engendered an early decline in pilgrim traffic from the south passing through North

Berwick; pilgrims from inland and the west might be more inclined to use the

Queensferry crossing (http://www.northberwick.org.uk/walks_2.html).

Name:

Barbara Morris, East Lothian Gardens and Landscapes and Recording Project under the

auspices of The Garden History Society in Scotland http://www.gardenhistorysociety.org

Dates of ground survey work:

20 April and 29 June 2013

Date research completed:

14 March 2014