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Scottish Borders - Places to Visit - Mellerstain House
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Mellerstain House, the home
of the Earl and Countess of Haddington, is famous for it’s exquisite plaster
ceilings and wonderful art collection.
Mellerstain House
Gordon
(A6089 Kelso-Gordon Road)
Scottish Borders
Tel: 01573 410225
12.30pm - 5pm (House)
11.30am - 5.30pm (Gardens & Tea room)
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Visit Mellerstain House in Scottish Borders |
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Come and discover the story of Mellerstain for a day, and enjoy the fabulous paintings,
embroidery, china and furniture collections, admire the classical perfection
of Robert Adam's architecture and interior decoration, and be inspired by the
friendly atmosphere and romantic location of one of Scotland's greatest
Georgian houses.
History of llerstain lands to 1691 From the close of the twelfth
century, the principal Mellerstain lands
belonged to the de Haitley family.
Over the succeeding four and a half
centuries, the properties changed hands numerous times among the notable Borders
families, including the Haliburtons and Napiers, until, in 1642, they were made
over by Royal Charter to George Baillie of Jerviswood, son of a prosperous
merchant burgess of Edinburgh.
He lived in a tower house on the site of the
present-day mansion. The times were not propitious for building. The Civil War was in progress
when George Baillie died in 1646.
He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
Robert, who came into conflict with the authorities. In 1676 he was
imprisoned
and fined
£500 sterling (an immense sum in those days), for rescuing his
brother-in-law from what he thought to be
an illegal arrest. It was
while he was
incarcerated in the Edinburgh Tolbooth that Sir Patrick Hume, afterwards
Earl of
Marchmont, wishing to communicate with him, entrusted the dangerous
mission to
his eldest daughter Grisell, then a child of twelve.
Robert Baillie, as a staunch Covenanter, was strongly opposed to the policy
of the Government, and in 1684 he was arrested for high treason and condemned to
death.
His estate was forfeited, as was also that of Sir Patrick Hume. Sir
Patrick and his family fled to Holland and were speedily followed by young
George Baillie, penniless after his father's death.
He had already met the
heroic little Grisell, and in exile the friendship ripened, although he had
nothing yet to offer her but the pay of a junior officer in the Prince of
Orange's Horse Guards.
Then, in 1688, came a dramatic change of fortune. The
Prince of Orange set out on a journey which was to make him William III of
England, and Sir Patrick Hume and George Baillie sailed with him. Both their
estates were restored and in September 1691 and later Grisell Hume became Grisell
Baillie.
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