Mertoun

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

Type of Site

An 18th-century country seat developed from an existing estate and featuring a house designed by Sir William Bruce (c.1630-1710). Older features, including a dovecot, 17th-century house and parish church were incorporated within the structure of the designed landscape. Mertoun also features a large parkland component, shelter belts, core policy woodlands and a sizable, well-maintained walled garden.

Location and Setting

Located just over a mile (1.8km) north-east of St Boswells, Mertoun is set within the broad, lowland valley of the River Tweed. The landscape is characterised by the meandering river itself, which flows through the Mertoun parklands, and open, far-ranging views that extend along the fertile ground of the Tweed corridor and the Berwickshire Merse towards more distant higher ground. Broadleaf policy woodlands around the house are a strong scenic element in these views. North of the river, the ground is drained by the Maidenhall Burn. Where the burn meets the Tweed, a steeper wooded bluff formed by the meandering river gives a more pronounced profile to the Tweed corridor, while the two densely wooded islands enrich views along this water-course. Encompassing a total area of 197ha (487ac), the designed landscape of Mertoun is bounded by a long woodland shelter belt to the south, and minor roads to the north and east. Clintmains, the small estate village, lies just beyond the boundary to the north.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Begun in 1703 to designs by Sir William Bruce, Mertoun House is a classical, symmetrically-planned mansion of 2 storeys on a raised basement. Built from old red sandstone, now weathered to a warm pink, the house was not fully complete or habitable until the 1730s. Single-storey, flanking pavilions were added, probably c.1760s, while later additions and alterations, including a south wing by William Burn (1841-3) and a north wing (1913-16) were subsequently removed during a project by Ian Lindsay to restore the house to its original 18th century proportions (1953-4). The late 17th century Old Mertoun House is traditionally identified as its predecessor. An attractive, harled rubble building with gabled roof, it now serves as the gardener's house and is surrounded by the cultivated ground of the walled garden, built c.late 18th century to early 19th century, with sandstone, rubble walls. Downslope, the tall, beehive-form dovecot, also of sandstone rubble, bears the inscribed date 1576 on its lintel and is noteworthy for its age and good state of preservation. Closer to the main house, a semi-octagonal court of stables, reconstructed c.1912, survives from an originally more extensive 18th-century complex. Footbridges over the Maidenhall Burn lead to further ancillary buildings to the north. Mertoun Church, built 1658 of whinstone rubble with substantial late 19th-century alterations still features its original bellcote and inscribed sundial. The Old Churchyard to the east of the designed landscape comprises the now overgrown and derelict parish burial ground of the medieval church of St Ninian. Several carved 18th-century gravestones stand within the enclosure while surviving fragments of the church vault, converted into a mausoleum in the 18th century, are now in bad repair. A suspension bridge, built in 1880, spans the Tweed.

Drives and Approaches

The main drive to Mertoun House approaches from Clintmains to the north. Passing fields, it crosses the Maidenhall Burn and winds through the main policy woodlands where daffodils line its course during spring. Other access routes fork off towards the parish church, stables and other parts of the estate. The final parkland approach to the south front of house owes its present curve to early 20th-century landscaping work. The minor track from Broomhall that leads up through the core parklands to the south of the house passes faint undulations in the ground which mark the old field boundaries and cultivated plots of the former village of Mertoun.

Paths and Walks

The Victorian designed landscape featured a number of walks, some of which endure today. A riverside path extended along the north bank of the river west to Broomhall and round to Mertoun Bridge. The broken remnants of a statue of a shepherd in the woods above the Tweed is a reminder of how strolls through the policies were once punctuated by more deliberate ornamentation. The pedestrian suspension bridge, erected in 1880, served to link the two main parks, while circling back through the policies, further paths connected the house with the walled garden.

Parkland

The main area of parkland extends south west from Mertoun House towards the loop in the River Tweed and forms a critical element in the setting of the classical mansion. While documentary evidence suggests an early park at Mertoun, mentioned in 1649 (RCAHMS NT63SW 41), the present extent of this parkland dates from an expansion phase begun in the mid-18th century when the old village of Mertoun was cleared away (Cruft et al. 2006: 560). The principal Mertoun park boasts a good range of attractive mature broadleaf trees, supplemented in recent decades by the planting of younger saplings. Species present include veteran sycamore, oak and lime, with other trees consisting of more ornamental varieties, such as copper beech (c. mid-19th century), and horse chestnut, (earlier 20th century). The ha-ha that divides the park from the drive was constructed in the late 1950s using stone from the demolished wings of the house. Another large expanse of park to the south of the river was established and planted by the time of Crawford and Brooke's survey of 1843. Although now mostly farmed, the clumps and remnant planting in this area still enrich views along and across the Tweed corridor.

Woodland

Woodland extends around the north and north east of Mertoun House and partly along the north bank of the Tweed. Comprising mainly broadleaf species, the areas by the house also feature impressive conifer specimens, which project above the surrounding woodland canopy. As with the parkland, plantations had been established at Mertoun by the mid 1700s, although their original structure, depicted on Roy's Military Survey, was altered during the subsequent reorganisation and expansion of the policies. Apart from the tree-cover along the burn, which appears to have been a more enduring woodland element, the present pattern of woodland derives mostly from late 18th-century to early 19th-century projects. The long, curving perimeter strip at the southern edge of the designed landscape, was in place by the 1840s. Maintained as amenity forestry and woods, felled and replanted on a regular basis, this 'Long Plantation' still serves to enclose and seclude the expansive southern park of the designed landscape. Closer to the house, meanwhile, an understorey of rhododendrons together with the mixed lime, oak, beech, yew and Douglas fir around Mertoun parish church, testify to further Victorian woodland projects. Some hardwoods were felled during the Second World War and were replaced with conifers between the walled garden and the river. The Lombardy poplars along the burn and the birch between the house and church were established during the later 20th century.

The Gardens

Enclosed by woodland and fringed by conifer specimens, a lawn with an informal, central pond extends to the north east of the house. The creation of the gardens in their present form began in the earlier 20th century, when the previous formal garden to the south east was grassed over, and the main area of focus shifted to the present site. A notable feature from this period are the two impressive Atlantic Cedars, transported to Mertoun by rail and then horse and cart (Tait 1996: 82). In the later 20th century, the 6th Duke and Duchess continued to improve the gardens and the fruit of their labour is now evident from the range of azaleas and other shrubs, the variegated maples and the broad, colourful herbaceous borders around the lawn. In a radio interview, the late Duke recalled how the lawn to the north-east had formerly seemed quite bare, and so on one winters day in the 1980s, he traced the outline of the pond using sawdust in the snow (BBC Radio Tweed Interview 1989).

The structure of the earlier formal garden to the south-east remains visible on aerial photographs of Mertoun. Leading from the side of the now-demolished south-east wing, and 'placed at a point of vantage for viewing the charming landscape' (Sales Catalogue 1912) this Victorian garden was criss-crossed by axial paths and ornamented by flower and rose beds.

Walled Garden

The large, irregular walled garden was built and developed sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s around the older, 17th century Old Mertoun House. Unlike many similar gardens, it has been continually maintained to a high standard and is well stocked with a diverse range of fruits, flowers and vegetables. It occupies the sheltered south-facing slope of the glen formed by Maidenhall Burn, with the lower, steep slope navigated by means of a zig-zag path to a gate in the south wall. This, and the other paths through the garden, faithfully trace those of the 19th century, and it is likely that apart from a small sloping area, grassed over following World War II, the overall impression of colour, scent and foliage in today's garden remains largely unchanged. The 1912 Sales Catalogue forms a good source of evidence, mentioning the grape varieties grown in the vineries, and numbers a total of some 200 different fruit trees (Sales Catalogue 1912). In addition to Old Mertoun House, which serves as the gardener's house, the walled enclosure features glasshouses that have either replaced, or been restored from earlier ones. The very good condition of the walled garden is partly attributable to the long service put in by successive generations of the Breed family during the 20th century. Alfred Breed, who retired as Head Gardener in 2005, followed in his fathers footsteps and spent his entire working life overseeing the different aspects of the garden. He was subsequently awarded with an Associate of Honour by the Royal Horticultural Society in recognition of a lifetime of horticultural work (www.rhs.org.uk ).