Ascog House
| Ascog House | |
|
Landmark Trust | |
|---|---|
 Ascog House with the Edwardian stair turret | |
| Location: | 55°49’24"N, 5°1’39"W |
| Built Before 1678 | |
| Information | |
Ascog House is a large 17th-century mansion house at Ascog on the Isle of Bute in Buteshire. The house is protected as a Category B listed building,[1] and is in the care of the Landmark Trust. Balmory Hall stands just to the west of the house.
Description
The present building is a large three-storey house running north-south. On the east side is a stair turret with a small watch-chamber above.[2] The roofs are steep with crow-stepped gables. One dormer bears the date 1678.[3]
The building is similar in style and date to the Mansion House in nearby Rothesay, and is likely to have been built by the same architect.[4]
The interior of the house dates from the 1990s restoration. The earlier interiors were mostly lost when the building was divided into flats,[2] and further damage occurred when a fire broke out in June 1991 while the restoration was in progress.[5]
Architectural history
There is no trace of the earlier castle that was said to be only a few minutes' walk from the house.[6][7] (Although a ruined tower named "Ascog Castle" exists, it is not on the Isle of Bute but in Argyll.[8])
The present building was originally an L-plan tower house, with a projecting watch-chamber above the staircase,[2] from which "missiles could be dropped on unwelcome and unsuspecting guests".[6] Buildings of this type typically date from around 1600.[5]
The stonework of the house bears witness to various changes to the floor levels and layout over the course of the building's history.[2] The windows were enlarged in the 18th century.[5]
During the reign of Queen Victoria, a large servants' wing was added at the back; and during the reign of King Edward VII, a drawing room and staircase were added on the north side.[3][5]
By 1970 the house had been divided into flats,[2] but structural problems set in.[5] Parts of the house became derelict, and the west wall was in danger of collapse.[9]
A programme of restoration was carried out in the early 1990s by the Landmark Trust, which included the removal of the Victorian wing, and most of the Edwardian additions. The Edwardian staircase was left "in detached whimsy"[10] as a free-standing turret containing an additional bedroom.[3]
Ownership history
In 1594, John Stewart of Kilchattan bought the Ascog estate, and may have been the builder of the first house on the site.[5] In 1673, his grandson, also named John Stewart, married Margaret Cunningharn. They may have been responsible for the rebuilding and enlargement that lead to the carved date 1678.[5]
A later John Stewart died without children, and by his will his house and estate were entailed on strict terms so as to keep them within the Stewart family. The estate first passed to a distant relative, Archibald MacArthur of Milton, who changed his name to Archibald MacArthur Stewart.[2] A contemporary writer[11] stated that he was an eccentric, "exceedingly parsimonious", and that "he had a great attachment to swine, and kept a litter of pigs in his bedroom".[11] Archibald MacArthur Stewart also died without children, and the heir in accordance with the entail of the Stewart Estate was an American citizen, Frederick Campbell, wh was required under its terms to change his name to 'Stewart' and to become a British subject, a process which took ten years and required a Special Act of Parliament, passed in 1826.[6]
The new-minted Frederick Stewart tried to sell the Ascog estate, but the terms of the entail would not permit him to retan the proceeds and he died during the course of the ensuing litigation,[6] the house passing to his brother, Ferdinand Campbell, who not only managed to become naturalised in a short time but had the House of Lords overturn the entail in John Stewart's will so that in 1831 he was able to sell the estate to Robert Thom, a civil engineer, who then styled himself "Laird of Ascog".[6]
After several changes of ownership, in 1939 the house was bought by the 5th Marquess of Bute for housing estate workers.[5]
The house was acquired by the Landmark Trust in 1989[5] and the building is now maintained using income from its use as holiday accommodation.
Outside links
References
- ↑ Ascog House: Listed Building Report (Historic Scotland)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Tranter, Nigel. The Fortified House in Scotland. V. pp. 71–72.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Ascog House
- ↑ McDowell, David (2010). Bute - A guide. The Laird Press. ISBN 978-0-9527847-7-7.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 5.8 Landmark Trust history sheet for Ascog House and Michel Ascog (PDF)
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 George Bell Barker (1989) [1894]. Ascog, the Isle of Bute, Scotland: Notes on its past and some of the people who have played a part in its story.
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Ascog Castle
- ↑ CANMORE (RCAHMS) record of Castle Ascog
- ↑ A detailed account by Clayre Percy of the faults and restoration, available at the house
- ↑ Walker, Frank Arniel (2000). Argyll and Bute. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071079-5.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Kay, John. A series of original portraits and caricature etchings by the late John Kay, with biographical sketches and illustrative anecdotes. p. 150. http://edinburghbookshelf.org.uk/volume9/page208/single.
