Leslie House

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Leslie House in 2007 (prior to the fire in February 2009). Leslie House.jpg
Leslie House in 2007 (prior to the fire in February 2009).

Leslie House is a Grade A listed historic building located in Glenrothes, Fife. It is the largest and earliest Restoration house in Fife, Scotland, and was the seat of the Earls of Rothes for over 250 years. Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn acquired the house in 1919. The house and its associated grounds were formally incorporated into the Glenrothes new town designated area in 1948 and much of the grounds were used to create Riverside Park. [1] [2] In 1952 the main house and its immediate garden grounds were donated by Sir Robert Nairn to the Church of Scotland where it became a care home for the elderly. [3] .

Contents

The care home was closed and subsquently sold for redevelopment in 2005 to Sundial Properties who intended to convert the building into private residental flats. However during the conversion, the building was significantly damaged by a major fire which destroyed the roof and most of the interior. [4] The property was subsequently sold to another developer and following planning permissions in 2019, restoration work finally started in 2021 [5] with the property converted into residential flats and re-occupied in late 2024. [6]

History

It was built for John Leslie, the Duke of Rothes between 1667 and 1674 and this became the seat of the Rothes family. [7] The house which was dubbed Villa De Rothes was the centre of life in the village and once rivalled Holyrood Palace for both size and glamour. [7] [8] A 1667 extension was by a design of William Bruce. [9] The writer Daniel Defoe defined it 'the Glory of the Place, and indeed of the whole Province of Fife'. [10] When a fire destroyed the building in 1763, the north, east and south wings were demolished. [8] Only the west wing was retained and this was reconstructed between 1745 and 1747. [7] [8] From 1904 to 1919, Leslie House was the home of Noëlle, Countess of Rothes, a noted philanthropist who became famous as a heroine of the Titanic disaster in 1912. Shortly after, during World War I the Countess of Rothes converted a wing of Leslie House into a hospital for wounded soldiers invalided from the Front. [11] Her husband, the 19th Earl of Rothes sold Leslie House in 1919 to a Capt. Crundall, who then sold it on to Sir Robert Spencer-Nairn the same year. [12]

The house was gifted by the Spencer-Nairn’s to the Church of Scotland after the Second World War, in 1952, for use as a care home, [10] necessitating substantial internal alterations. Prior to this, the house and its associated grounds were incorporated into the allocated area for the delivery of Glenrothes new town by the UK Government in 1948. Much of the land and grounds of Leslie House were used to create Riverside Park. [13] [2] [3] .

A developer called Sundial Properties purchased Leslie House in 2005 from the Church of Scotland, planning to convert it into 17 luxury flats, with 12 detached homes within the grounds, [14] but it was again severely damaged by fire in February 2009. In 2017 a second developer, Byzantian Developments, reached an agreement to purchase Leslie House from Sundial Properties and obtained permissions from the Fife Council in 2019 to restore the building into 28 flats, with an enabling development of 8 new build houses in the grounds. The mansion was restored by late 2024 and is now re-occupied. [15]

Architecture and fittings

Historic sketching by John Claude Nattes, 1804 Scotia Depicta - Leslie House -Plate-.jpg
Historic sketching by John Claude Nattes, 1804
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, and his wife Elizabeth Murry, Duchess of Lauderdale John Maitland, 1st duke of Lauderdale, and his wife Elizabeth Murry, Duchess of Lauderdale (3977704407).jpg
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale, and his wife Elizabeth Murry, Duchess of Lauderdale

The architecture and fittings were described by Leighton in 1840: "It originally formed a quadrangle, enclosing in the centre an extensive court-yard, but three of the sides were burnt down in December 1763. The fourth side was repaired, and forms the present house. The picture gallery in this part of the building, which is hung with portraits of connections of the family, is three feet longer than the gallery at Holyroodhouse."

Among the several pictures at Leslie House in the mid 19th century mentioned by Leighton, "were those of the fifth Earl and his Countess, by Jamieson, the Duke and Duchess of Rothes, the celebrated Duke of Lauderdale and his Duchess, the Princess of Modena; General John, Earl of Rothes, by Sir Joshua Reynolds; Archbishop Tillotson; and a portrait of Rembrandt by himself." [16] A portrait of the Princess of Modena and a large collection of family portraits are also mentioned. [17]

The house featured several tapestries including, the story of Leander; the history of the children of Israel's journey through the wilderness; and the anointing of Saul. [17] In the mid 19th century, the relics preserved in the house included the dagger with its sheath used by Norman Leslie, master of Rothes, at the murder of Cardinal Bethune; and the sword of State carried by the Duke of Rothes at the coronation of Charles II at Scone. [16]

Grounds

Painting of Leslie House and grounds Leslie House, Fife, Scotland.png
Painting of Leslie House and grounds

Blackwood (1836) remarked that: "The plantations of Leslie House are remarkably fine. The species that thrive best seem to be ash, elm, common beech, oak, and the silver-fir. The larch does not thrive so well ... The beech avenue at Leslie House is well worthy of attention; the trees are about 200 years old, several of them measuring 16 feet 8 inches, at 4 feet from the ground." [18]

Notes

  1. ↑ Glenrothes Development Corporation, 1970, pp. 14–15.
  2. 1 2 Ferguson, 1982, pp. 30–31.
  3. 1 2 "Leslie House with Conservatory, Garden and Walls, Leslie". Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
  4. ↑ "The Titanic and the ruined Fife palace". Scottish Field. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2021.
  5. ↑ Warrender, Claire (9 September 2021). "Leslie House: Restoration finally under way at the home of Titanic heroine". The Courier. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  6. ↑ "Leslie House with Conservatory, Garden and Walls, Leslie | Buildings at Risk Register". www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk. Retrieved 13 January 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 Lamont-Brown 2002, p. 157-158.
  8. 1 2 3 Ferguson 1982, p. 17.
  9. ↑ Wemyss, Charles (2005) "Merchant and Citizen of Rotterdam: The Early Career of Sir William Bruce". Architectural Heritage Vol. XVI
  10. 1 2 "Historic Environment Scotland". portal.historicenvironment.scot. Archived from the original on 7 October 2024. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  11. ↑ A Matter of Course : The Story of Noelle Rothes, Titanic's "Plucky Little Countess" by Randy Bryan Bigham
  12. ↑ "Leslie House | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  13. ↑ Glenrothes Development Corporation, 1970, pp. 14–15.
  14. ↑ "Leslie House with Conservatory, Garden and Walls, Leslie | Buildings at Risk Register". www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk. Retrieved 12 January 2025.
  15. ↑ "Leslie House restoration finally under way". The Courier. Dundee. 9 September 2021. Archived from the original on 23 August 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2022.
  16. 1 2 Leighton & Stewart 1840, p. 188.
  17. 1 2 Blackwood 1836, p. 114.
  18. ↑ Blackwood 1836, p. 113.

References

Bibliography

56°12′12″N3°11′42″W / 56.203313°N 3.194881°W / 56.203313; -3.194881

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