Dunrobin Castle and Gardens
Dunrobin Castle is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, and the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland and the Sutherland Clan. It is located 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Golspie, and approximately 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Brora, overlooking the Dornoch Firth.
Dunrobin's origins lie in the Middle Ages, but most of the current building and gardens were added by Sir Charles Barry between 1835 and 1850. Part of the original palace is visible in the inner courtyard, despite a series of expansions and changes that have made it the largest home in the north of Scotland. After being used as a boarding school for seven years, it is now open to the public.
The lands of Sutherland were acquired before 1211, by Hugh, Lord of Duffus, grandson of the Flemish nobleman Freskin. The County of Sutherland was created around 1235 for Hugh's son, William, supposed to have descended from the House of the Moray by the female line. The castle may have been built on the site of an early medieval fort, but the oldest surviving part, with an iron yett, is first mentioned in 1401. The oldest castle was a keep square with walls over 6 feet (1.8m) thick. Unusually, the ceilings on each floor were formed from stone vaults rather than being wood. The castle is thought to be named after Robert, the 6th Earl of Sutherland (d.1427).
Dunrobin Castle was built in the midst of a tribal society, with Norse and Gaelic in use at the time. Robert the Bruce planted the Gordon, who supported his claim to the crown, at Huntly in Aberdeenshire, and Earls of Huntly were created in 1445. the county passed to the Gordon family in the 16th century when the 8th Earl of Sutherland gave his daughter Elizabeth in marriage to Adam Gordon. After the 8th Earl died in 1508, Elizabeth's elder brother was declared heir to the title, but a brieve (writ) of idiocy brought against him and his younger brother by the Gordon meant that possession of the estate went to Adam Gordon in 1512.
In 1518, in the absence of Adam Gordon, the castle was captured by Alexander Sutherland, the rightful heir of the county of Sutherland. The Gordon quickly retook the castle, captured Alexander and rested his head on a spear atop the castle tower. Alexander's son John made an attempt on the castle in 1550 but was killed in the castle garden. During the more peaceful 17th century, the keep was extended with the addition of a large house, built around a courtyard to the southwest.
During the Jacobite Lecter of 1745, the Jacobites under Charles Edward Stuart stormed Dunrobin Castle without warning, because the Sutherland Clan supported the British government. The 17th Earl of Sutherland, who had changed his surname from Gordon to Sutherland, narrowly escaped them, exiting through a back door. He sailed for Aberdeen, where he joined the Duke of Cumberland's army. Upon the 18th Earl's death in 1766, the house passed to his daughter, Elizabeth, who married the politician George Leveson-Gower, then created 1st Duke of Sutherland. In 1785, the house was modified and extended again.
Between 1835 and 1850, Sir Charles Barry remodeled the castle in a Scottish baronial style for the 2nd Duke of Sutherland. Barry had been the architect of the Palace of Westminster, home to the House of Commons, and was in great demand. His recently completed Italian garden in Trentham is in style. The 14th-century tower, and extensions from the 17th and 18th centuries, have been retained, and survive within Barry's 19th-century work.
Dunrobin Castle Station, on the Far North Line, was opened in 1870 as a private station for the castle. The current waiting room was built in 1902, and is a category B listed building.
In 1915, the building was in use as a naval hospital when the fire damaged the roof and much of the interior, but it was limited to Barry's more recent additions. Scottish architect Sir Robert Lorimer was busy renovating the house following the First World War. Since the 1920s the rising cost of labor has led to jobs, such as topping of trees that are neglected. When Fifth Duke died in 1963, the county and house went to his niece, the current Countess of Sutherland, while the Duchy had to pass to a male heir and went to John Egerton, Earl of Ellesmere. Between 1965 and 1972, the house became a boys' boarding school, hiring forty boys and five teachers in its first year. Since 1973, the house and grounds have been open to the public, with private quarters preserved for the use of the Sutherland family.
Architecture
There are 189 rooms within the castle, making it the largest in the Northern Highlands. Much of Barry's interior was destroyed in the 1915 fire, leading to restoration by Sir Robert Lorimer, although it incorporated surviving 17th-century and 18th-century work, including wood carving attributed to Grinling Gibbons. Externally, the castle has elements inspired by the work of the French architect Viollet-le-Duc, such as the pyramidal roof over the main entrance.
The part built by Barry uses roughly the same cut style as the turreted parts of the 16th and 17th centuries, but borrows significant elements from the castle style. A large four-story quadrangular pile, with towers at each corner, connects to the old castle of a three-story building and which contains the stately apartments. The tallest tower, containing the entrance, is 135 feet (41 m) high, the circular towers being 115 feet (35 m) high and the tower 125 feet (38 m).
St John Well, in the courtyard of the oldest part of the castle, is one of the deepest draw wells in Scotland, at 92 feet (28 m). There is no indication as to the origin of the name.
Indoor
In the entrance hall is a frieze of the coats of arms used by the past counts of Sutherland. The main staircase, decorated with portraits of the Leveson-Gower family, is approximately 30 feet (9.1 m) wide and 50 feet (15 m) high. The paneled dining room, 40 feet (12 m) long and 22 feet (6.7 m), has an Italian Grisaille wall-top frieze and a Khorassan rug, as well as chairs containing the sewing of the 5th's wife Duke. The drawing room, made up of two rooms from previous Lorimer during his castle restoration, overlooks the gardens and the sea, and contains large 18th-century Canaletto and tapestries, as well as portraits of Hoppner and Reynolds. Housing over 10,000 books, the library features a Filippo de László painting of Duchess Eileen, as well as a Chippendale mahogany table.
Gardens
The French influence extends into the gardens, completed in 1850, with Barry taking inspiration from the French formal style of the Gardens of Versailles. Each parterre is arranged around a circular basin with a fountain, with the same essential layout since it was created around 1848. Barry designed parterre as an optical illusion, seen from above they appear to stretch beyond their physical arrangement, narrowing it gradually. The total landscaped area is 1,379 acres (558 hectares).
Museum
A museum displays the trophy heads of animals shot by family members on safaris, ethnographic objects from around the world and an important collection of archaeological finds. The museum retains its Victorian-Edwardian layout, and is housed in an 18th-century pavilion adjoining the formal gardens. Historically, the castle is a listed building category, and the gardens are included in the Inventory of Designed Gardens and Landscapes in Scotland.
Falconry
The castle is open to the public between April and October each year. Falconry displays are held in the castle gardens by a resident Falconer.
Opening Times and Official Website: http://www.dunrobincastle.co.uk/