Bowhill: The House, its People and its Paintings

Bowhill, in the Scottish Borders, started life as a modest Georgian villa, but over generations was transformed into a huge mansion. The art collection was consolidated when Henry, the enlightened 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, and his wife, Elizabeth, united the three families of Montagu, Douglas and Scott circa 1800. The exterior of austere greywacke stone belies rich interiors filled with great treasures – the 4th Duke’s Library, with its views of the Ettrick Valley so beloved of his friend Sir Walter Scott, the damask Drawing Room with its masterpieces by Claude and Ruysdael, the Boudoir and its Chinese wallpaper, the Dining Room with its Canaletto of the Thames at Whitehall, the Mortlake tapestries of Mantegna’s Triumphs of Caeasar, and the Buccleuch collection of miniatures, second only to that of the Queen.Table of ContentsTHE FAMILYThe buck that earned the family its nameMarriage to the dashing son of Charles IIDalkeith Palace‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel’From the Enlightenment to the Victorian ageWalter Francis and his Duchess: the partnership that transformed BowhillThe collectors in the family The Victorian house with a Georgian spiritThe 20th centuryTHE HOUSEThe Outer and Inner HallsThe SaloonThe Staircase HallThe LibraryThe Drawing RoomThe Morning RoomThe Dining RoomThe Billiard RoomThe Smoking RoomThe East PassageThe Dalkeith BedroomThe Walter Scott RoomThe Old Chapel The Buccleuch MiniaturesThe BoudoirThe Archive RoomThe Exhibition RoomThe Old KitchenThe Gardens