Prestonfield House (also known as Priestfield)

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

Location and Setting

Prestonfield House is situated within the historic boundaries of the City of Edinburgh, and within 2 miles (3km) of the city centre. It lies to the south side of Holyrood Park which forms a dramatic feature in the view from the house, with 'Samson's Ribs' prominent from this south side. Duddingston Loch lies on the north-east boundary of the designed landscape and has been a bird sanctuary since 1928. The site is bounded by minor roads, and by the golf course to the north and east. The western boundary has gradually become built up and has been described in the past as a 'bungalow colony'. The A68 leads into the city centre from beyond the housing. The site is very visible from the Queen's Drive through Holyrood Park, south of Arthur's Seat, and above Duddingston Loch from which point its circular pattern of tree planting can be easily defined.

The house is set in flat land above the marshes of Duddingston Loch, which was once part of the estate. The building of the railway line to the north of the house severed the outlying fields and Duddingston Loch from the rest of the estate; and the fields to the north of the railway line were then left unmanaged and are shown as marsh by the 2nd edition OS map of 1910. General Roy's map of 1750 shows the designed landscape extending further westwards than today, with a long west drive and a shorter south-east drive. The circular structure of planting around the house existed at that date but was formed by only one line of planting. There is no sign in 1750 of the formal garden layout drawn in 1764 by William Walker. A plan of 1817 shows the layout substantially the same as it is today, with its new drive to the north-west, and the new circular stable buildings to the north of the house. The kitchen garden at that date lay to the north-west of the stables and was also roughly circular in form. A small pond is shown to the north of the kitchen garden, and a small burn is shown diverted through the south park and broadening out with an ornamental pond due south of the house.

By the 1st edition OS map in 1857, the railway had cut through the north of the policies, cutting off Duddingston Loch, and also the feeder canal to the ornamental pond in the south park which had been filled in.

A new kitchen garden had been put in south of the house at the end of the south-east avenue, and a new south drive had been made to Clearburn Lodge. The tree planting around the circular design had also been thickened up to form more of a feature, and possibly to provide more shelter. The bowling green is also shown to the south-east of the house. By 1910 and the 2nd edition OS map, the southern kitchen garden had also become disused, but the structure of the designed landscape was laid out the same as it is today. There are 116 acres (47ha) in the designed landscape.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Prestonfield House, possibly designed by Robert Mylne in 1687, has twin gable ends, with curved gables, linked with a balcony across the west entrance. A detailed Roman Doric porte cochere is a later addition. The house is harled and listed grade A. The circular stables were built around 1816 by James Gillespie Graham for Sir Robert Dick and have been converted to a restaurant/function suite; they are listed B. The 18th century sundial, with cubical stone dial, is listed B. The Dutch Garden ornamentation is mostly dated 1687, and would have been put in at the time that William Bruce designed the house. It consists of two stone seats, a large Bacchus fountain, and a Sphinx which are all now located on the terrace to the south of the house. There is an obelisk in the south park, dated 1840, commemorating the children of Sir Robert Dick who had died abroad.

Parkland

The parkland to the north and east of the house has been incorporated into the adjacent golf course, and many of the older trees, notably the beech trees, remain. There has been some recent tree planting on the golf course. Duddingston Loch, once part of the estate, has been a bird sanctuary since 1928. The enclosed fields within the west side of the circular designed shelterbelts were converted to paddocks by Sir Robert Dick in the early 19th century and remain in the same use today. The south park, divided from the terrace by a haha and fence, is kept up as parkland today with remaining older individual parkland trees, and is grazed by cattle. The site of the former kitchen gardens are now grassed over.

Woodland

The only woodlands at Prestonfield are the shelterbelts, originally put in by Sir James Dick at the end of the 17th century, and interplanted in the early 19th century by Sir Robert Dick. Species include sycamore, elm, beech and lime, with a holly and elder understorey. There has been some more recent planting; the west drive was interplanted in 1920 by Sir William Stuart Dick- Cunyngham, with horse chestnut, beech, sycamore and lime. There are also some fine old parkland trees in the policies, particularly the old sycamores and yew near the house.

The Gardens

To the north of the house there are some herbaceous beds extending northwards to the stables and a rosebed surrounds the sundial. A formal pattern of flowerbeds, divided into eight compartments, is currently being replanted. The terrace garden to the south of the house was put in during the first half of the 19th century when the Dutch Garden was removed. A bowling green was originally laid out on the terrace, and steps lead down from it to the south park. This has now been left as lawn, and shrub beds were planted to the south of the house by Mrs Janet Dick-Cunyngham in the 1960s. The remains of the walls of a gazebo were discovered here adjacent to the house. The stone seats, the Sphinx and the Bacchus fountain are all features of this garden.