Kinmount House

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Kinmount House
Dumfriesshire
Kinmount House.jpg
Kinmount House
Location
Location: 55°0’19"N, 3°20’45"W
History
Built 1820
For: the Marquess of Queensbury
by Sir Robert Smirke
Country house
Information

Kinmount House is a 19th-century country house in the parish of Cummertrees, in Dumfriesshire. It is to be found four miles west of Annan.

The house was designed by Sir Robert Smirke]] for the Marquess of Queensberry, and completed in 1820.

Today the house is protected as a category A listed building,[1] and the grounds are included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.[2]

History

The lands of Kinmount were granted to the Carlyle family in the 13th century, and acquired by William Douglas, 1st Earl of Queensberry, in 1633. The 4th Duke of Queensberry carried out extensive planting on the estate in the late 18th century. On his death in 1810 Kinmount passed to Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry, who commissioned a new house from the architect Sir Robert Smirke.[3]

The Greek Revival house was built between 1813 and 1820, with Smirke's assistant William Burn acting as executant architect. The stonemason was John Park, and stone was brought from Cove quarry near Kirkpatrick-Fleming.[1]

The Douglas Mausoleum, Cummertrees

In 1896 John Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry, sold Kinmount to Edward Brook, a wealthy industrialist who had bought the adjacent Hoddom Castle estate in the 1870s.[3] Brook commissioned alterations and extensions to the house from Dumfries architects James Barbour and J. M. Bowie. These included the roof balustrades and urns, and the service court to the north-west.[1] The house was used as a hospital during both the First and Second World Wars. The house is now owned by Kinmount Leisure Ltd, which rents out holiday accommodation with access to outdoor sports.

The Kinmount and Hoddom estates are today owned by the Brook family trust.[3]

Outside links

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kinmount House: Listed Building Report - Historic Environment Scotland
  2. Kinmount – An Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Kinmount: site history". An Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. Historic Scotland. http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/heritage/gardens/gardenssearchmoreinfo.htm?s=kinmount&r=&bool=0&PageID=2109&more_info=Site.