Mellerstain (also known as Whitesyde)

The following is from the Historic Environment Scotland Gardens and Designed Landscapes Inventory. For the most up-to-date Inventory entry, please visit the Historic Environment Scotland website:

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Type of Site

A large-scale formal framework surrounds a central mansion built in two stages during the 18th century. Later parkland has become a significant element of the core landscape, while elaborate, early 20th-century garden terraces and lawns form a major attraction for visitors to the designed landscape.

Location and Setting

Mellerstain, located 7 miles (11km) to the north-west of Kelso, is the largest Inventory designed landscape in the Scottish Borders. Encompassing 1413 hectares, the extensive policies are set within a distinctive landscape of gently rolling landform interrupted by prominent conical hills. This natural topography bore a strong influence on the original, early 18th century scheme, in which long-ranging views were encouraged over the undulations of the ground by means of the long axial vistas and the ridge-top Hundy Mundy folly at the southern edge of the designed landscape. Today, much of this design survives and there are impressive views over the fertile countryside of the Tweed lowlands, most notably towards the Cheviots to the south. The mansion, woods and artificial lake at the heart of the policies form important scenic elements, while the shelterbelts and substantial mixed policy woodlands on Mellerstain hill are prominent against the more general landscape of fields and pasture. The Eden Water, a tributary of the Tweed, flows through the south-eastern part of the designed landscape and forms the water source for Mellerstain lake. While the house and grounds are managed as a visitor attraction, the outer fields and higher grazing land are tenanted out to farmers. The boundary of the designed landscape is formed by a combination of field boundaries and shelter-belts, (especially on the west), minor roads and tracks (to the north and south-west), the course of the Hareford Burn and Eden Water (to the north-east and south), and the main A6098 road (to the south-east).

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Mellerstain House is a castellated Georgian mansion built in two phases. The flanking pavilions belong to an uncompleted house designed by William Adam in 1725-9, while the classically proportioned central block of yellow dressed sandstone was built c.1770-8 to designs by his son, Robert Adam. On a high ridge, at the far end of the vista to the south-east, the Hundy Mundy eye-catcher forms a distinctive silhouette. Begun in 1726, it takes the form of a tall Gothic archway with square turreted towers. Other 18th-century architectural features include the mausoleum to the north of the house, built in the form of a classical temple c.1736 by James Runciman, and two ruinous lodges on the old drive and by the walled garden. Closer to the house, the 2-storey, rubble-built, 18th-century stables and cottage block was probably remodelled c.1859, when a clock from Lauder Tolbooth featuring the date 1735 was inserted into its west, crow-stepped gable. Most of the other nearby ancillary buildings were added or remodelled during the 19th century. In contrast to the Georgian symmetry of the main design features at Mellerstain, the Norman cottage to the north-west of the house is an exemplar of rusticated cottage orné. Adapted from earlier structures in the mid to later 19th century, the harled and thatched building is surrounded by its own busy garden area and is secluded from the wider parkland landscape by an enclosure of shrubs and trees. The east and west lodges were built in the earlier 19th century following a reorganisation of the approach routes to Mellerstain. Further 19th-century accommodation was provided by The Row, a single storey range of cottages opposite to the east lodge and the two storey Garden Cottage. The adjacent walled garden, with coped, brick-built walls, is derelict, but still features ornate wrought iron gates. To the west of the house, a small, single-arched bridge over the Eden Water retains some of its original, 18th-century fabric.

Drives and Approaches

Two, short, near-symmetrical drives curve through the parkland from the east and west lodges and converge at the north front of the house. This arrangement was established by the earlier 19th century after the alteration of a more rigid, 18th century design. Previously, routes in from the surrounding landscape were channelled along the principal, long, tree-lined avenues before reaching Mellerstain. Visitors on the road from Earlston, for instance, traversed nearly a mile and a half (2.3km) of die-straight road before a sharp, 90 degree turn brought them to face the house along the intersecting north-south avenue. This formal effect was subsequently softened through a project to conceal the junction point in the late 18th to earlier 19th century. The east-west road north of the house was curved outwards and sunk, so that it could no longer be seen by the occupants, while new lodges and curving sections of drive effected a more informal final approach to the house and its forecourt.

Parkland

From the decorative wrought iron fence and gate that define the northern forecourt of Mellerstain House, parkland stretches and widens out to the north and north-west as far as the sunken minor road and Mellerstain Home Farm. Some young deciduous saplings have recently been planted to complement the existing scatter of older beech, oak, sycamore and sweet chestnut specimens. In the 19th century, open parkland also swept down from the south front of the house, but this was replaced with Blomfield's terraced gardens and lawn in 1909-11. Plaques on a range of trees growing to the south-east of the house record the date of visit and name of the dignitaries who planted them. More recent ornamental additions complement the older trees in this area.

Avenues and Vistas

A notable feature of the policies is the enduring structure of the long axial avenues of the early 18th-century landscape. Historic maps are the best source for appreciating their original scale. Roy's Military Survey of 1747-55, for instance, shows the 3km long east-west axis, which was lined with a double row of trees, and the principal north-south avenue. This main avenue stretched from the north front of the house up to the summit of Mellerstain Hill and from the south front of the house down to a plantation beyond the canal, a device that led the eye towards the more distant Hundy Mundy folly on the skyline. Later, the double avenue of trees on the east-west avenue was reduced c.1800 to a single avenue of beech and lime, while subsidiary, perpendicular rides and avenues were planted over or removed by the early 19th century. Nonetheless, the dominant framework of the two axial vistas endures. A ride up the densely wooded Mellerstain hill preserves the original effect of the northern channel, while to the south, Blomfield's garden terraces and lawn were designed to preserve and enhance the linearity of the original formal scheme.

Woodland

An extensive, mixed woodland canopy over Mellerstain Hill and around the southern margins of the lake form the principal woodland components in the designed landscape. They are complemented by shelter-belt plantations around the square inner fields of the policies, and outlying blocks such as Marchfield plantation to the west, and the ridge-top strip of trees that flanks the Hundy Mundy tower to the south. In terms of structure, the present Mellerstain woodlands bear a close resemblance to the original planting schemes of the mid-later 18th century. Following the clear-felling of many hardwoods during the Second World War, re-planting schemes ensured that new hardwoods, nursery crops and single beech plantations followed the boundaries of the earlier plantations. The main northern axial avenue is preserved as a ride through the plantation on Mellerstain Hill that terminates at a clump of veteran beech, spared from the wartime felling project. Maps and plans of the 18th century show that in addition to the main avenues, the larger policy plantations were divided by numerous rides that fanned out diagonally and reconverged on a series of circular glades. Both the Roy and Blackadder maps depict a particularly large, circular clearing on the summit of Mellerstain Hill, a feature which perhaps strengthened its qualities as a focal point at the end of the northern vista by allowing the summit to be seen in profile. Meanwhile, woodland along the Eden Water was probably first planted in the earlier 18th century and enlarged c.1770s. Today, the veteran beech, oak, sycamore, lime and horse and sweet chestnuts in this area form an attractive woodland setting for footpaths. Through the administration of the Mellerstain Trust, the woodland resource is maintained through careful replanting and management schemes and nest-boxes are used to encourage birds.

Small, late 19th century woodland garden areas remain evident around the house but are no longer maintained as such. To the east of the house, some exotic trees and shrubs planted by the 12th Earl of Haddington can still be spotted. To the west, large rhododendron bushes are now beginning to encroach upon narrow grass paths that lead to a clearing where the ha ha divides the core area from the adjacent fields.

Water Features

Mellerstain Lake is the main water feature of the designed landscape. Fringed by deciduous woodland, it is prominent in views south from the house, and affords a valuable habitat for birdlife. The lake owes much of its present form to Reginald Blomfield's garden scheme of 1909, when the banks of the existing formal 'Dutch Canal' were 'naturalised' to create a more sinuous form. The earlier canal, fed by the Eden Water, had been created c.1727 as part of William Adam's formal landscape design. Depicted on both Roy's Military Survey, and Sharp's plan of 1765, the canal was surrounded by raised grass walks that were adorned, at intervals, by classical statues (Ottewill 1989: 25-6). Pencil lines on Thomas Garth's plan of 1756 suggest that at one time, thought was given to softening the straight lines of the canal, but in the event, this linear strip of water remained largely unchanged until Blomfeld's intervention. In addition to informalising the shape, this early 20th-century project involved rebuilding the north end to match the segmental southern end, and the construction of a new retaining wall to strengthen the banks. Periodic dredging of the lake assists with problems of silting.

The flowing stream of the Eden Water contrasts with the serene character of the lake. As shown by sketched plans dated 1727 and 1748, William Adam was also involved in a project to manipulate this watercourse. In 1748, the southern end of the canal was dammed to create the cascades, which allowed the water to fall to its natural level. Renovated by Blomfield in the early 20th century, the cascades were repaired again c.1970s.

The Gardens

Extending from the south front of Mellerstain House, the formal terraces, parterres and lawn comprise a major example of Edwardian garden design. They were commissioned in 1909 from Sir Reginald Blomfield, eminent architect, author and proponent of symmetry and formality in the garden. Structurally, the gardens were designed to fit with the existing formal arrangement inherited from the early 18th century. Immediately below the house, a paved, central platform encourages the viewer to stand and gaze along the principal vista towards the Hundy Mundy tower, while symmetrical ornamentation such as topiary and classical statuary emphasise the elegance and inherent order of the older design. The gardens are arranged on three levels. From the upper terrace, a double stairway over a pillared loggia descends to a rectangular walled compartment that contains axial paths and two large, geometric parterres. Another set of double stairs curves around a semi-circular, balustraded pond and leads to a smaller terrace before emerging onto a large expanse of lawn. Blomfield's original design had been much more grandiose, with larger terraces extending virtually all the way to the lake (Ottewill 1989: 24-5). As he wryly noted in later memoirs, 'we had to abandon this; indeed it would have required the resources of Louis XIV to carry out the whole of my design' (1932: 83). In the revised scheme, the lawn remains as a simple, sweeping linear channel defined by beech hedging on its outer edges.

The beds and borders on the terraces are immaculately maintained. The parterres have traditionally featured rose specimens within the box-edged compartments. In 1995, these were largely replaced with roses such as Bonica, The Fairy and Rose De Rescht. The mixed borders, meanwhile, contain an impressive and colourful array that includes Geraniums, Delphiniums, and Cimicifuga against a backdrop of wall roses.

Walled Garden

Both Roy's Military Survey (1747-55) and Garth's plan of 1756 suggest an earlier walled garden site may have been located in the present parkland area to the north of the house. By the 1820s, a new kitchen garden had been established on sheltered, sloping ground on the north bank of the Eden Water, to the south-east of Mellerstain House. Today, this garden is derelict and heavily overgrown. With coped, brick-built walls, it had originally featured a glasshouse range along the north wall. By the mid-20th century, however, decline had set in; wrought iron gates were moved to Tyninghame shortly after World War II, while a visitor from the Berwickshire Naturalists Club in 1968 noted how time had eradicated the 'long borders of mauve and cream coloured stocks, the double herbaceous borders'.the pots of lilac and Laburnum flowering early in the greenhouses' (Elliot 1969: 17). In the later 20th century, the garden was let briefly as a nursery.