The Hirsel

http://portal.historic-scotland.gov.uk/hes/web/f?p=PORTAL:DESIGNATIONS:0

Type of Site

A well-preserved late 18th to 19th-century informal landscape comprising parkland, woodland, a large artificial lake and a late 19th-century woodland garden that was developed from a more formal design around the older Hirsel mansion. While the house remains private, the core policies of Hirsel Estate are publicly accessible and form an important resource for local amenity and nature conservation.

Location and Setting

The Hirsel is located immediately to the north west of Coldstream and is set within the fertile lowlands of the Lower Berwickshire Merse. The policies cover a large area of undulating mixed farmland and forestry with the core areas forming an important amenity resource for walking and wildlife observation. The ground is drained by the fast-flowing Leet water, which crosses the policies from north-west to south-east. Both the river valley and the large artificial Hirsel lake are designated as part of the Hirsel Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and are linked by a network of paths that also cross the inner parklands of the designed landscape. Significant areas of woodland shelter these core areas, while larger swathes of commercial forestry plantation cover much of the lower slopes of Hirsel Law to the north-west. This hill, also the site of a late prehistoric fort, forms the most prominent area of high ground and affords far-ranging views to the Cheviot Hills to the south. Elsewhere, views extend from much of the designed landscape westwards towards the Eildon Hills. Defined by main roads to the south and west, minor roads to the north and east, and the town of Coldstream to the south-east, the current boundary of the designed landscape encloses some 462ha (1141ac). This boundary observes an overall extent achieved following the expansion and modification of the estate during the 19th century.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Prominently sited on a terrace above the Leet valley, The Hirsel is a large three-storey mansion that exhibits different phases of construction from the opening decade of the 18th century through to the mid-19th century. Associated with both William Adam, (extensions 1739-41), and with William Burn, (projects of enlargement from c.1813), the present house is of a distinctive creamy-grey, harl-pointed sandstone and comprises a U-shaped west front with a square tower projecting from the south-west wing. In the north-west of the estate, there stands a late 18th-century, 6.1 metre high obelisk with inscribed base. Erected by Alexander, 9th Earl of Home, it commemorates his son who was fatally injured at the Battle of Guildford Court House, North Carolina in 1781. Closer to the house, the trapezoidal stone-and-brick walled garden was initially built in the mid-18th century, with alterations dating to c.1800. A stone-built, single-storey potting range extends along the exterior of the north wall, while the iron gates were installed in 1910. The homestead and adjoining square plan dovecot were originally constructed c.1800. Arranged around a cobbled yard, this steading complex now houses visitor facilities and exhibition rooms. Further 19th-century estate buildings include the Garden House, adapted from a smaller cottage in the mid 19th century, the large crow-stepped, red sandstone stable block, built c.1900, a fine symmetrical red sandstone dairy c.1900, and a laundry, built c.1890 with a stone base and half-timbered upper floor. Cockburn Lodge, Crooks Lodge and Montague Lodge were all built during the mid-19th century along the western edge of the estate, while Coldstream Lodge to the south east, with its gabled porch and overhanging eaves, was a late 19th-century addition. Close to this entrance point stands a bronze statue of the late Lord Home (Sir Alec Douglas-Home 1903-95), crafted by Professor Bill Scott and erected by public subscription in c.1998. Dunglass Bridge replaces a late 18th-century, single-arched bridge destroyed in floods in 1948. Meanwhile, the earliest architectural feature discovered on the estate consists of the remains of a medieval church, excavated 1979-84 and dated to the 9th to 10th century with later medieval additions.

Drives and Approaches

During the 19th century, four different drives approached the main house. The drive entering from the north west through a long curving strip of woodland may originally have been the more important given the tall Wellingtonia specimens that line part of its route and the location of the late 18th century obelisk, which would have been visible from the drive against a mixed woodland backdrop. Kincham Avenue, depicted on Blackadder's 1797 map, entered through woodland from the east before leading to the former Dunglass Bridge over the Leet Water. Also depicted on Blackadder's map is the drive that is mainly used today. Entering from the south-east by Coldstream, it curves past the steading and the lake before approaching the house. The drive from the west at Crook's Lodge, meanwhile, heads directly through farmland before curving to meet other service tracks and branches of the other drives.

Parkland

While later woodlands, cereal fields and the golf-course have diminished the overall extent of the originally expansive 18th to early 19th century parks along the Leet valley and around the lake, the rolling green parkland extending to the west of the house retains its picturesque qualities. Clumps of mature trees accentuate the natural undulations of the landscape and there are some fine specimens of oak, beech, yew, lime and elm. Devices such as the sunken drive to the north-east of the lake, a recently restored ha ha at the bottom of the west lawn, and a semi-subterranean cow-arch, designed for herding livestock under the drive towards the dairy, continue to ensure uninterrupted views to and from the main house. Veteran specimens around the house include oaks and sweet chestnut. Apart from the Tulip tree veteran in the walled garden, The Hirsel is also known for its impressive veteran sycamore. The tree measures some 28m (92 feet) high and 6.4m (21 feet) in girth. While popular tradition asserts a planting date soon after the Battle of Flodden (1513), current estimations suggest a more likely date of 1640-1710 (The Hirsel Sycamore, www.bordersforesttrust.org ).

Woodland

The late 19th-century woodland garden at Dundock Wood comprises tall Scots pine, Douglas fir and oak with an extensive underplanting of massive rhododendron and azalea bushes. The resulting effect of 'chequered sunshine and shade' on the colourful blossoms was admired a century ago by Maxwell (Maxwell 1908: 86), and at the time of writing, young Scots Pine are being planted to ensure the eventual replacement of the older specimens. The woodland strips of beech and oak along the banks of the Leet were planted as ornamental woodland c.1800. In the strip to the south of the Leet, a roughly circular depression is all that is left of a timber-and-thatch ice-house that was illustrated and described in 1853 (McIntosh 1853: 509-10). Elsewhere, the woodland areas contain a good species mix of oak, beech, horse chestnut, Wellingtonia, Douglas fir, Scots pine and Norway spruce. To the north, the original woodlands of Dunglass and Kincham Wood, planted during the later 18th-early 19th century were partly clear-felled during World War II and are now managed on a commercial basis.

The Gardens

Several small terraces lead from the house to the River Leet. On one of these, two Western red cedars shade the former Victorian rosary; a small circular area still partly bounded by curving, wooden trelliswork. Otherwise, the main garden area comprises beds and colourful, mixed herbaceous borders created by the 14th Earl of Home from 1958. These extend along the terrace to the south and east of the house, while a small alpine garden has been planted along the west front. Meanwhile, a large variety of ornamental trees dotted around the house, stables and walled garden bear witness to a gift presented to the 14th Earl by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. One hundred and five trees representing all the countries that he had visited were given to the Earl on the occasion of his 70th birthday in 1973.

Walled Garden

The walled garden, built sometime around the mid-18th century, is now mainly grassed over. The central veteran Tulip Tree, (Liriodendron tulipifera), reputedly planted in 1742, and with a girth of nearly 7.8m (26 feet), stands in the centre and is almost certainly one of the oldest surviving specimens in Scotland (Hirsel Tulip Tree, www.forestry.gov.uk ; Country Champion Database, www.treeregister.org ). It is still possible to make out the slightly raised lines of the original axial paths that extended north, south, east and west from the tree, while the brickwork of the walls reveal various phases of alteration. The former internal arrangement of the garden is also apparent from the first Ordnance Survey map that indicates 4 quadrants mainly occupied by fruit trees with an upper terrace for glasshouses along the north wall (1855-7, OS 25'). The garden apparently underwent something of an overhaul c.1870 when potting sheds and other ancillary buildings were built, and a new range of glasshouses were constructed by Adam Stirling of Galashiels. Photographs taken in 1880, when the Head Gardener supervised a team of 20, shows a well-tended, well-stocked garden with immaculate and intricate decorative beds. The number of employed gardeners dwindled during the subsequent two World Wars and the decline of the garden led to the replacement of the old Victorian glasshouses with a few aluminium framed greenhouses, and the grassing over of the old paths and beds in the later 20th century. Today, just a couple of vegetable plots are maintained in the north western area. An attractive shrubbery along the exterior of the west wall, featuring climbers and roses, was planted by the 14th Earl.