Showing posts with label Newhailes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Newhailes. Show all posts

Tuesday, 26 September 2023

Skulferatu #105 - Shell Grotto, Newhailes, Musselburgh

 

On a stroll through the Newhailes estate, I took shelter in the woods from the ominous dark clouds gathering in the sky.  There I came across a small and rather sorry looking building, this being the remains of the Shell Grotto.  It was once a rather grand, little structure that stood as a central feature in the water gardens.  These were a series of pools that were fed by a burn that runs through the estate.  The pools are now long gone and are just a series of dips in the ground.

 

A photo of the Shell Grotto at Newhailes, which is a small, roofless building with an arched doorway.  There is a swirling iron gate in the doorway and the facade of the building is constructed of rough, lumpy, and bumpy stone.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Shell Grotto

 

In the Eighteenth Century, Shell Grottos were the must haves for fashionable, rich British landowners, and the owners of Newhailes, the Dalrymples, were rich enough and fashionable enough to have one built.  The Shell Grotto in Newhailes was one of the first built in Scotland and was probably built in the 1770s. 

 

A photo showing a closer view of the Shell Grotto at Newhailes, which is a small, roofless building with an arched doorway.  There is a swirling iron gate in the doorway and the facade of the building is constructed of rough, lumpy, and bumpy stone.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The Shell Grotto

 

A photo of the entrance of the Shell Grotto at Newhailes, showing the rough stones and patterned top stones around the doorway.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Entrance to the Shell Grotto

 

The Shell Grotto was constructed of large boulders and rubble, with the façade at the entrance being decorated with furnace slag and sponge-stone to give it a mysterious and eerie look, like the entrance to a volcanic cavern.  It was originally roofed in slate and had a floor of black marble.  The walls inside were at one time lined with wood covered in plaster, in which were embedded thousands upon thousands of seashells, precious stones and fragments of coloured glass all arranged into various patterns. 

 

The shells in the walls not only came from the local beaches, but also as far away as China.  In 1774, Jenny Dalrymple wrote to her brother William, who was in Canton, and asked him to find her shells from there for the grotto.

 

As well as being designed as a place for quiet contemplation, reading or just retreating from life for an hour or two, the Shell Grotto was also meant to be a place of mood and mystery.  Excavations there a few years ago, found that there had at one time been a chimney and a ‘stoke hole’ behind the grotto as well as flues in the walls of the building.  Rather than being constructed for heating the grotto, they appeared to have been designed to produce and emit smoke, to add a mysterious atmosphere to the building.

 

Though abandoned for many years, the interior of the Shell Grotto was intact up until the 1950s, when it was vandalised and set on fire.  Now the roof and the interior decoration are all gone.  Today, there are thousands of shells lying on the floor of the Grotto, but I don’t think any of them are the original shells from the walls, but rather are a recent addition in an attempt to put some shells back into the Shell Grotto.

 

A photo showing thousands of seashells lying on the ground of the floor of the Shell grotto at Newhailes.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Shells in the Shell Grotto

 

I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my stroll to the Shell Grotto, in a dimple on a rock in the entrance façade.

 

A photo showing a hand holding up a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 105) with the Shell Grotto building in the background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #105

 

A small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 105) in a dimple in the rough rock at the top of the entrance to the Shell Grotto. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #105 in a dimple on a rock in the entrance façade

 

A small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 105) in a dimple in the rough rock at the top of the entrance to the Shell Grotto. Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #105 in a dimple on a rock in the entrance façade

 

TomTom Map showing the location of Skulferatu #105
Map showing the location of Skulferatu #105

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.942634

Longitude -3.081671

 

what3words: crops.impose.park

 

For an idea of what parts of the decoration inside the Grotto may have looked like when it was complete, visit the website for the Shell Grotto in Margate.

 

I used the following sources for information on the Shell Grotto –

 

 

Tourist Information sign at site

Newhailes
By Hilary Horrocks
2004
 

 

Tuesday, 5 September 2023

Skulferatu #104 – Ladies’ Walk, Newhailes, Musselburgh

 

I discovered the delights of the estate at Newhailes a decade or so ago when I was out cycling.  Going down a narrow path I came across a slight hill on one side with a path leading up to a gate.  So, of course, I had to go through and have a wander about to see what was there.  And what was there, was a pleasant walk through some woods up the Palladian style country house, which is Newhailes House.  Built by the architect, James Smith, in 1686, the house was once the home of the Bellenden family and was then inherited by the Dalrymple family, close relatives of the Bellends, sorry cheap joke, Bellendens.  In 1997 the house was given to the National Trust.

 

A photo of a large country mansion house, Newhailes House, framed under the branch of a tree in the foreground.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Newhailes House

 

Today, on a leisurely walk through the estate, I cut along the pathway through the fields in front of the house, to the Ladies’ Walk.  The Ladies’ Walk is an elevated path that runs for about a quarter of a mile through the grounds of Newhailes.  It was designed to allow the rather delicate, aristocratic ladies who lived in, or were visiting Newhailes House, to partake in gentle exercise and conversation with each other.  The path bordered a sheep field on one side and a field of cattle on the other, so being elevated it meant the good ladies of the time wouldn’t be bothered by pesky livestock.  It also provided views over the surrounding grounds and countryside.  At one time there was a humped bridge that led to a viewing platform.  There, visitors had unimpeded views to the Forth and down to the hectic and the busy harbour in Musselburgh. 

 

A picture showing a raised walkway between two fields with a small bridge in the foreground.  Two genteel ladies are walking along the walkway.  There are cows in the right hand side field and sheep in the left.  In the background amongst some trees is a stately home (Newhailes House).  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Picture of how Ladies’ Walk would have looked in the 18th Century
from the tourist Information sign at site

 

Built around the 1740s, the walk originally had a hedge on its eastern side to act as a barrier against the wind. Now, most of the walk is covered in trees, bushes, thistles and lots of prickly plants, though there are bits that are covered in wild grasses which are accessible. 

 

While out on my walk I clambered up a low stone wall and walked through the thick, damp grass on part of the pathway.  Feeling quite genteel, I took in the views and breathed in the fine summer air, just like the ladies of old would have done a couple of centuries ago.

 

A view along a very overgrown path with lots of tall grasses growing along it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The present view along Ladies’ Path

 

A view along a very overgrown path with lots of tall grasses growing along it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The present view along Ladies’ Path

 

A view over some fields to a mansion house in the distance.  Trees grow on either side of the house.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of Newhailes House from Ladies’ Path

 

A photo showing an ivy grown lump sticking out through the long grasses of an overgrown path.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View from Ladies’ Path

 

Making my walk to the red brick remains of where the bridge to the viewing platform had stood, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me in a gap where the cement had crumbled away.

 

A photo of a red brick platform with grass growing along the top of it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Remains of the platform for the bridge

 

A photo of a side view of the red brick platform with grass growing along the top of it.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Remains of the platform for the bridge

 

A photo showing a hand holding up a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 104) with the red brick platform in the background.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #104

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 104) sitting in a gap between the red bricks of the platform.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #104 in a gap between the bricks

 

A photo of a small ceramic skull (Skulferatu 104) sitting in a gap between the red bricks of the platform.  Photograph by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #104 in a gap between the bricks

 

TomTom Map showing location of Skulferatu #104
Map showing location of Skulferatu #104

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.944467

Longitude -3.077433

 

what3words: starts.fines.civic

 

I used the following sources for information on Newhailes and Ladies’ Walk –

 

Tourist Information sign at site

 

Newhailes 

by Hilary Horrocks

2004

 

Canmore

Canmore - Ladies Walk, Newhailes