"‘The Stable of Halkerston Lodge and Moray House – Roof Architecture of the 1630’s around Edinburgh", Edinburgh Architectural Research, vol. 29 (2004), pp. 33-7. (original) (raw)

THE DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY TIMBER ROOFS IN SCOTLAND: GLASGOW TRADES HALL AND TWEEDDALE HOUSE IN EDINBURGH

The few open roofs mentioned in literature seem to represent an exception rather than the rule: most Scottish timber roofs are hidden behind timber or plaster ceilings and characterised by a much simpler common rafter form. From the eighteenth century onwards they presented hipped and trussed arrangements as well as other more complex solutions developed to meet the requirements of evolving architecture. This paper attempts to shed some light on the design and construction techniques of eighteenth century Scottish timber roofs with the preliminary results obtained from the creation of a relational database of 1250 buildings (including structures, professionals, dates), related mapping, survey of 29 roofs across Scotland and a more detailed study of those at Tweeddale House in Edinburgh, and Glasgow Trades Hall. Both buildings have roofs from the period in which the Adam brothers worked on them as architects. The original sixteenth century Tweeddale House was remodeled by the Adams in 1752-3 and almost forty years later Robert Adam designed the Glasgow Trades Hall (1791/4), although the building was completed after his death with a modified design. Archival research combined with surveys has allowed to make an initial appraisal of the design and construction processes involved in the two projects. Many questions arise concerning the specific involvement of architects and wrights in the successive transformations of the roofs and an attempt to identify local and foreign influences has been carried out by analyzing the typology of roofs and joints.

"Newark Castle, Port Glasgow: A Proto-Modern Roof of SW-Scotland", Post-Medieval Archaeology, vol. 46 (2012), pp. 1-35.

This article analyses the roofs over the north, east and west ranges of Newark Castle. Summarizing the results of a comprehensive research project undertaken in 2007-08, it discusses the roof carpentry of the castle in its historical and technical contexts and illuminates important aspects of building construction in 16th-century Scotland, in particular the problems associated with Scottish rafter single roofs, as well as proposing a construction sequence for the building of Newark. For the fi rst time an important roof structure of central Scotland is discussed in detail, thereby focusing on a British region that has so far raised little interest in timber studies.

Seventeenth and eighteenth century timber roof structures in Scotland: design, pathologies and conservation

Seventeenth and eighteenth century architecture in Scotland has not been sufficiently researched, despite its importance in both quality and quantity. Most scholars tend to investigate the external architectural composition of these buildings rather than their overall constructional configuration. In particular, timber roof structures are very rarely considered even though the integrity of the overall building depends largely on them. This lack of knowledge hinders good conservation practice. This paper aims to increase awareness about the extent, nature, value and condition of historic timber roofs in Scotland in order to understand what their conservation needs are. Preliminary results obtained from the creation of a relational database of 1550 buildings, related mapping, survey of 56 buildings of the period across Scotland and historical/archival research, are discussed. This has allowed for an initial understanding of the different structural types of Scottish timber roofs of the period as well as their pathologies.

The Floor plan of Hopetoun House, 1699–1721: Functional Design and the Post -Restoration Scottish Country House

The Georgian Group Journal , 2021

This article explores the functional elements of country-house design in post-Restoration Scotland through a close analysis of one house: Hopetoun, near Queensferry, ten miles northwest of Edinburgh.1 Scotland was a sovereign nation until 1707, and the unique history of its country houses needs to be considered independently from that of the rest of Great Britain. Baronial tower houses continued to exert an influence on their design, but there was also a surge of interest in classical models. This was sparked by the return en masse of the political exiles who fled Scotland during the Cromwellian regime, bringing back with them the latest fashions from Italy, France, and the Low Countries. They exerted a particularly strong influence on interior layouts, which derived heavily from the Baroque floor plans popularised by Louis XIV's court.

Revealing the history behind the façade: a timber-framed building at 302 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh

The property at No. 302 Lawnmarket, Edinburgh, is a rare survival of a 'timber land', the timber-framed buildings that were once commonplace along the city's Royal Mile and elsewhere in Scotland in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Two painted panels survive as components of the timber frontage, providing insights into the nature and function of the galleries that projected from these buildings. The building also retains fragments of two richly decorated board-and-beam ceilings, the beams of which have been successfully dated by dendrochronology. One possible interpretation of the dendrochronological results is that multi-storied tenements such as No. 302 may not have been conceived as such but were built upwards in stages, the platform-framing of the box-like construction allowing for storey-by-storey development.

‘Lady Hoomes Yairds’: The Gardens of Moray House, Edinburgh

Garden History, the journal of the Gardens Trust. 47.1, 2019

The inventories of the garden of Mary, Countess of Home, at Moray House in Edinburgh in the middle of the seventeenth century are examined in relation to the contemporary plan of Edinburgh by James Gordon of Rothiemay and to later plans and maps. (See 'Lady Home's inventory of Moray House, Edinburgh, 1631' on academia, below). The house and garden were formed in the context of James VI and I’s desire to create a unified kingdom of Great Britain, in part by marriages between citizens of each country. This document is unique in its detail in Scotland and presents a picture of the form and contents of the garden of a town house in Edinburgh, much of which may be appropriate to gardens in other cities of the period in Scotland and elsewhere in Britain. Marilyn M. Brown and Michael Pearce.

Buildings Report 2022, Woolhope Transactions Vol 70 pp147-163.

Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club of Herefordshire, 2022

This paper discusses timber-framed houses that contain late 16th century decorative counter-change ceilings including, Angel House, Kingsland and Western Lye Farmhouse, Aymestrey in Herefordshire. There are also descriptions of Eaton Hall, Eaton and Tudor House, Yarpole.