KING’S STABLES, CASTLE BARNS, AND CASTLE HILL. 141
brother, united with it the title of Earl of Stair; a combination of titles in one person,
that afforded the wits of last century a favourite source of jest in the supposed recontres of
the two noble Earls.
The mansion appears to have passed into this nobleman’s possession very shortly after
its erection, as among the titles there is a declaration by William Earl of Dumfries, of
the date 20th March 1747, “that the back laigh door ol passage on the west side of
the house, which enters to the garden and property belonging to Mr Charles Hamilton
Gordon, advocate, is ane entry of mere tolerance given to me at the pleasure of the
owner,” &c.
The Earl was succeeded in it by his widow, who, exactly within year and day of his
death, married the Honourable Alexander Gordon, son of the second Earl of Aberdeen, On
his appointment as a Lord of Sesaion in 1784, he assumed the title of Lord Rockville,
from his estate in East Lothian. He was the last titled occupant that inhabited this
once patrician dwelling of the Old Town ; and the narrow alley that gives access to the court
behind, accordingly retaina the name of Rockville Close. Within this close, towards the
west, there is a plain substantial land now exposed to view by the Castle Road, originally
possessed by Elizabeth, Countess Dowager of Hyndford, and sold by her in the year 1740,
to Henry, the last Lord Holyroodhouse, who died at his house in the Canongate in 1755.l
Various ancient closes, and very picturesque front lands that formed the continuation of
the southern side of the Castle Hill, have been swept away to give place to the new
western approach and the Assembly Hall. One of these, ROSS’SC ourt, contained ‘‘ The
great Marquis of hgyle’s House in the Castlehill,” described by Creech, in his “ Fugitive
Pieces,” as inhabited, at that degenerate period, by a hosier, at a rental of S12 per annum.
Another of them, ‘Kennedy’s Close, though in its latter days a mean and dirty alley,
possessed some interesting remains of earlier times. It probably derived its name from a
recent occupant, a son of Sir Andrew Kennedy of Clowburn, Baronet ; but both Gom the
antique character, and the remains of faded grandeur in some of its buildings, it had doubtless
afforded residences for some of the old nobles of the Court of Holyrood. The front land
was said to have been the town mansion of the Earls of Cassillis, whose family name is
Kennedy. It was adorned, at the entrance to the close, with a handsome stone architrave,
supported on two elegant spiral fluted pillars, and the rest of the building presented a
picturesque wooden front to the street. Within the close there was another curious old
wooden fronted land, which tradition reported a0 having been at one period a nonjurant
Episcopal chapel. An inspection of this building during its demolition, served to show
that, although the main fabric was substantial and elegant stone work, the wooden front
was an integral part of the original design. It was found that the main beams of the ~ O U S ~ ,
of fine old oak, were continued forward through the stone wall, so as to support the wood
work beyond, and this was further confirmed by the existence of a large fireplace on the
outside of the stone wall; an arrangement which may still be seen in a similarly constructed
land at the head of Lady Stair’s Close, and probably in others. Within this house there
was one of the beautifully sculptured gothic niches, already alluded to, of which we furnish
a view, in the state in which it existed when the house was taken down. This we presume
*
Douglk’s Peerage.
142 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
to have been the same that k n o t alludes to as one of the private oratories existing in hi8
time, in which ‘‘ The baptismal fonts are still remaining.” It is described by him as a
building nigh the Weigh-house, on the south side of the Castle Hill, which has been set
apart for devotion.’ This idea, first suggested by him, of
these ornamental niches having been originally intended for
baptismal fonts, has been repeated by some of the most careful
writers on the antiquities of Edinburgh in our own day,
although the fitness of such an appendage to a private oratory
seems very questionable indeed. From our own observation,
we are inclined to believe that, in the majority of cases,
they were simply ornamental recesses or cupboards ; and
this is the more confirmed, from their most common position
being at the side of the fireplace, and the base in nearly
all of them being a flat and generally projecting ledge,
“We doubt not,” Arnot adds, “but that many more of
the present dwelling-houses in Edinburgh have formerly been consecrated to religious
purposes ; but to discover them would be much less material than difficult ! ” It may
reasonably be regretted that one who professed to treat of our local antiquities, should have
‘dismissed, in so summary and contemptuous a manner, this interesting portion of his
subject, for which, as he acknowledges, he possessed numerous facilities now beyond our
reach.
A house of a very different appearance from any yet described occupies a prominent
position on the north Castle bank, and associates the surrounding district with the name of
Scotland’s great pastoral poet, Allan Ramsay. The house is of a fantastic shape, but it
occupies a position that, we may safely say, could not be surpassed in any city in Europe,
as the site of a ‘( Poet’s Nest.” It is surrounded by a beautiful garden, and though now
in the very heart of the city, it still commands a magnificent and varied prospect, bounded
only on the distant horizon by the Highland hills. At the time of its erection, it was a
suburban retreat, uniting the attractions of a country villa, with an easy access to the centre
of the city. We have been told by a gentleman of antiquarian tastes, from information
communicated to him nearly fifty years ago, that Ramsay applied to the Crown for as much
ground from the Castle Hill as would serve him to build a cage for his hra?, meaning his
wife, to whom he was warmly attached, and hence the octagon shape it assumed, not unlike
an old parrot cage 1 If so, she did not live to share its comforts, her death having occurred
in 1743. Here the poet retired in his sixtieth year, anticipating the enjoyment of its pleasing
seclusion for many years to come ; and although he had already exhausted his energies in the
diligent pursuit of business, he spent, in this lovely retreat, the chief portion of the last
twelve years of his life in ease and tranquil enjoyment, though interrupted towards its close
by a painful malady. He was remarkably cheerful and lively to the last, and his powers of
conversation were such, that his company was eagerly‘courted by all ranks of society; yet
he delighted in nothing so much as seeing himself surrounded by his own family and their
juvenile companions, with whom he would join in their sports with the most hearty life and
good-humour.
* Amot, p. 245.
.
