Newhall

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

Type of Site

A picturesque landscape laid out along a glen on the River North Esk, associated with an 18th century house, gardens and a walled garden.

Location and Setting

Newhall House lies within the parish of Penicuik, 1.5km to the north-east of the village of Carlops, and adjacent to the south-east side of the Edinburgh-Biggar Road (A702). The River North Esk flows north-eastwards from the foot of the Pentland Hills and, at this point, through a deeply incised channel constricted in a steep narrow gorge cut through sedimentary strata. Newhall is set out along this densely wooded glen with an area to the south of the river, lying within the Tweedale District of the Scottish Borders. This southern area is predominantly rough and improved pasture that gives way southwards to Harlaw Muir, an area of grass and heather moorland, part of the Auchencorh Moors. The landscape immediately surrounding Newhall along the Esk gorge mainly comprises 18th century enclosures indicated by regular field boundaries, linear woodlands and shelterbelts in an open landscape. The Pentland Hills form a backcloth to the immediate north-west.

From the A702, the heavily wooded landscape around Newhall is important in what is a relatively unwooded, open area. From Mill Bridge there are views north-west to Patie's Hill (480m/1574ft) in the Pentlands. From the eastern end of the estate there are broader views to the east towards Walstone Muir and Marfield. Important views within the landscape from the terrace at the south-east of the house down Fairie's Linn and from Mary's Bower down the glen are now largely obscured by tree growth.

Other important views lie from The Steel over to Marfield Loch, and the banks of nearby Monk's Haugh. Long-distance views out of the landscape can be had from various points along the high level walks above Newhall Glen.

The development of the landscape at Newhall is well documented. By the mid 18th century, an enclosure landscape of square parks had been set out (Lawrie, 1765). An 1808 edition of The Gentle Shepherd includes 'A Map of the Scenary of the Gentle Shepherd from a plan of the year 1770 with several Additions from a later survey 1808'. By comparing this with later Ordnance Survey maps, the development of the landscape to the present day can be charted.

Although the picturesque layout is centred around Newhall Glen, it extended over a wider area. To the east it includes Marfield Loch, the road to it on the 1808 plan marked as 'Road to the Scenary'. The introductory text adds 'a road leads down to the farmhouse of Marfield and the east end of the Marfield Loch, where the scenery of The Gentle Shepherd begins by a view south-westward over the loch and the Glen of the North Esk, of Symon's House in Tweedale'.'. Robert Brown, who bought the estate in 1755, acquired a yawl from the Gulf of Mexico, placed it on the Marfield Loch, primarily as an object to view from the high banks of a nearby Monk's Haugh (NSA, 1845).

All the sites mentioned in Ramsay's poem and marked on the 1825 OS plan (1st edition OS 6", 1852-3) can be identified.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Newhall House dates from 1703 and consists of a two-storey building with garret, incorporating a vaulted first storey from an earlier castle. Built by David Forbes, it was reputedly designed by John Clerk of Penicuik whose father, the first Baronet, supervised its construction. Some rooms were altered in the late 18th century to the designs of the owner, Robert Brown. Castellated additions of 1852, to the north, are by David Bryce (1803-76).

Entry Head Lodge (outside the inventory boundary) is sited on the Roman road to the north of Newhall. It is a single-storey stone cottage with a slate roof, and sash and case windows. Mill Bridge carries the drive over the River North Esk, and is constructed of coarse rubble over a brick arch, without a parapet. A stone Wellhead is sited in the park on the approach to the house. The South Lodge and Gate Piers comprise a single-storey stone cottage with sash and case windows, and square dressed stone gate piers surmounted by large obelisks with stone feet clasping the pier below. The Steading, built c1800, to the north of the walled garden, includes a walled midden, and a flailing floor within the steading building. The designed landscape is liberally dressed with drystone dykes.

A ha-ha on the lime avenue north of the house separates the garden from the park. By the house there is a sundial, dated 1810, erected in memory of Allan Ramsay. It has a tapered shaft, with inscriptions and designs, on a four-stepped base. The late 18th century Rustic Hut (Mary's Bower) is a circular building of stugged ashlar, with a conical thatched roof and pointed Gothic windows and arches, recently restored. The Thomas Dunmore Memorial, dated 1794, situated is an open area of grassland east of Newhall House, is an ashlar memorial to Thomas Dunmore of Kelvinside. The Brown Family Graveyard, at the top of Newhall Glen, is surrounded by a low wall of dressed stone. Two carved stone plaques, the Lonely Bield Plaques, in Newhall Glen allude to scenes in The Gentle Shepherd. The early 18th century Composite Sundial, in the walled garden, comprises an octagonal shaft with figures of the seasons. This has been attributed to a local sculptor, James Gifford of West Linton, and sits on two square plinths with an octagonal surbase. It is surmounted by a globe and scrolled sundial.

Drives and Approaches

The main drive forms a picturesque line through the 18th century square parks enclosed by John Forbes. Part of the drive shows evidence of earlier 18th century planting by way of mature lime (Tilia x europaea). Other mature specimens of horse chestnut (Aesulus x hippocastanum), beech (Fagus sylvatica), and ash (Fraxinus excelsior) enclose the area and conceal the house from the drive.

The Rhododendron Walk leads north to Peggyslea Farm, and is the remains of an earlier approach to Newhall. This originally formed part of a toll-free track between Carlops to Maybank, near Auchendinny but its use ceased when the intervening land was sold in 1925. In an 1808 map in The Gentle Shepherd a Gatehouse stood on this track to the north-east of Peggyslea. The track then continued east/west through the Newhall policies, taking an axial approach nearer the house, and then turning south-east to the lodge at Kitleyknowe. This approach to Newhall from the south is dramatic, with sweeping views over the surrounding wild and open countryside over Turtle Back.

The building of the turnpike road (A702) in 1832 through the Newhall parks, altered the main approach to its present position, to the north of Newhall at Beechbank. Although a grander approach from the old road to the north had been planned, it was probably never completed as the construction of the A702 intervened. Nevertheless, the Entry Lodge Head was built is extant.

Paths and Walks

Newhall Glen is the focus of the picturesque landscape, relating directly to The Gentle Shepherd. It comprises of a series of circuit walks laid out along the glen and the Fairies Linn, formed by a tributary of the River North Esk. All the bridges and sites along the glen including Peggy's Pool, Sandys Cave, the Washing Green, Craggy Bield, Glaud's Yard, the Lonely Bield and Mary's Bower, can still be located.

The Glen is heavily wooded with beech both on the higher ground and perimeter of the more open farmscape. The area also contains regenerating sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), ash, holm oak (Quercus ilex), and Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris).

The Gardens

Little is left of the gardens that surrounded the 1703 house, but south-west of the house there is a rectangle of raised ground referred to since Brown's time as a chapel-yard, there being a small square ruin at its south-west corner. Below the house, straddling the burn in Fairies Linn that passes the ruin of the former wash-house, there was a lower garden. This was replaced by the East Garden, situated on the edge of the glen, of which traces survive to the south of the present walled garden (Young, 1998).

The garden around the house consists of a horseshoe-shaped terrace lawn, on a projecting cliff which looks south-east down the Glen, and is enclosed by a stone balustrade. Clipped Irish yews (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata') line the gravel path leading from the house to this terrace where the focal point is the Allan Ramsay sundial, 1810. From here a path leads down into Newhall Glen. To the north of the terrace, a path leads into the Fairies Linn. The top of the north-east bank is planted with a line of mature limes. The burn issues from a pond with an island cascade. To the west of the alleged chapel site, a broad path planted with beeches make a longer walk to the Glen.

Walled Garden

The walled garden and adjacent yard and steading were built by Robert Brown (1796). The walled garden is rectangular with stone walls about 4m high. The garden has three entrances each with wrought-iron gates on the north-west, north-east, and south-east. Stone busts of Pan and Pastora, now on the south gate pillars, previously stood on the Forbes gateway to Newhall House. The vine-house contains an old vine of unknown age and there is a heated melon pit. The surviving layout of offset cruciform paths is probably original. The existing planting created by the present owner's family includes central double herbaceous and mixed borders backed by purple-leaved plum (Prunus cerasifera 'Pissardii') with a central roundel of beech hedge. It is also a fully productive fruit and vegetable garden and the walls are covered with espaliered fruit. The north-west axis focuses on the steading cottage and walled midden which in recent years provided a sheltered enclosure for planting.