Hamilton Palace: Hamilton Palace Was A Large Country House Located

Coordinates: 55.780000°N 4.
031500°W
Hamilton Palace
Hamilton Palace was a large country house located
Hamilton Palace
north-east of Hamilton in Lanarkshire, Scotland.[1] The
former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it was built in 1695
and subsequently much enlarged. Widely acknowledged
as having been one of the grandest houses in Britain, the
palace was demolished in 1921, owing to the prohibitive
cost of upkeep and the subsidence caused by the nearby
mine at Bothwellhaugh.
Contents
The Palace
Hamilton Palace circa 1880.
Châtelherault
Decline and demolition
The site today
References
External links
The Palace
Built on the site of a 13th-century tower house, the south
front of Hamilton Palace was erected in 1695 in the General information
Palladian style, with a huge Corinthian pedimented Status Demolished
frontispiece, by architect James Smith for William, 3rd
Architectural style Palladianism
Duke of Hamilton, and his wife Anne, Duchess of
Hamilton. A new North Front had been planned by the Town or city South Lanarkshire
fifth Duke in the 1730s, and extensive plans were Country Scotland, UK
prepared by William Adam. The external plans were
never executed, but Adam did redesign several important Completed 1695
staterooms, with stucco work by Clayton.[2] However, the Demolished 1921
Duke's early death and the significant costs involved Design and construction
postponed further major work, although modifications and
additions continued during the next century, including the Architect James Smith
purchase or exchange of land surrounding the palace,
enabling extensive landscaping to take place.[3]
The tenth Duke, who succeeded in 1819, began a wave of total refurbishment, using the seemingly limitless
wealth that the family derived from their ownership of the Lanarkshire coalfields. This refurbishment included
heraldic carvings in the main pediment over the entrance, carved by John Greenshields in 1822.[4] The north
front itself was finally completed 1842 by architect David Hamilton using Adam's original plans as a structure.
Carving was by the 16-year-old Patric Park.[5] The north front was 265 feet (81 m) long and 60 feet (18 m)
high, adorned with a Corinthian portico of monolithic columns 25 feet (7.6 m) high. The state rooms, which
included extensive stucco-work, were by Smith and
Adam. These held much fine furniture and by the mid-
19th century housed one of the best private collections of
paintings in Scotland, including works by Peter Paul
Rubens (see below), Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and
other masters - the largest portion coming from his wife
Susan's inheritance of an existing huge collection from
her father William Thomas Beckford. A sumptuous
chimneypiece by William Morgan adorned the Dining
Room's fireplace. Hamilton Palace, 1916.
According to Professor Tait in Burlington Magazine, July

1983, the Duke also sought alternative designs for the 1840s reconstruction by Charles Percier, Pierre François
Léonard Fontaine and Giacomo Quarenghi.
Châtelherault
Hamilton Palace stood at the centre of extensive parklands
which, as the main axis, had a great north–south tree-lined
avenue over three miles (5 km) in length. The layout was later
developed, most notably by William Adam, who introduced
Châtelherault banqueting house/hunting lodge into the south
avenue in the High Parks where it commanded a broad vista
northwards across the Low Parks. Adam also added a very grand
dog kennels at the same time to hold dogs for the hunts.
Decline and demolition The Duke of Hamilton's 18th century

hunting lodge
The demise of Hamilton Palace was the result of various factors:
large and ostentatious houses had fallen from fashion; the cost of
upkeep was prohibitive; and nearby coal mines resulted in dangerous subsidence as the coal beneath was
removed. The decline began in 1882 when William, the twelfth Duke, sold off art to raise funds. After the
thirteenth Duke lent his home for use as a naval hospital during the First World War, the state of the palace was
one of severe neglect necessitating vast sums for restoration.
It was returned from hospital use in 1919, but by this time the Duke preferred the smaller and more homely
Dungavel. At this time, the magazine Country Life featured a number of articles on the palace and a quantity
of photographs were taken to accompany the series. As such they represent an invaluable record of the house
before the massive sale of contents and fittings, and its demolition in 1921.[6]
The Rubens painting of "Daniel in the Lion's Den" is now in The National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.[3]
The site today

The site of the palace is now occupied by the Hamilton Palace Sports Grounds. Most of the palace grounds
were incorporated into Strathclyde Country Park. When the park was being constructed in 1974, vaulted
cellars were discovered which may have belonged to the original house. However, these were not excavated
but instead infilled with rubble.
Several metres of wrought iron railing from the palace grounds can be
seen outside Hamilton College. There is a misconception that the railings
were installed upside down but this is not actually the case. Some of the
fittings, and photographs of the interior, can be viewed in the Low Parks
Museum (the old Palace Coachhouse) in Hamilton.
The dining room from Hamilton Palace is on view at the Museum of

Fine Arts, Boston, in the European period rooms, where it remains the
only extant, assembled room from the Palace.
The sandstone bungalows on the south side of the A74, Carlisle Road,
leaving Hamilton in the direction of Ferniegair and Larkhall are reputed
to have been built from stone salvaged from the palace.
The remains of the tree-lined avenue that linked the palace to

Chatelherault hunting lodge can still be seen. These give the visitor a
good indication, particularly from Chatelherault Country Park, of where
the palace stood. A David Lloyd health club, municipal sports facilities
and an Asda superstore now stand on the site of the original palace.
Hamilton Mausoleum still stands and tours can be booked at the nearby
Hamilton Museum. Tours are available on the first Sunday of each month
between February and November. A Louis XIV armoire sold in 1882,
and now in the Louvre
Some of the stonework was used to build other buildings throughout
Scotland, such as the WW1 Memorial Kirk at Bangour Village Hospital
[7]
References
1. Hamilton's royal past (https://www.southlanarkshire.gov.uk/info/200165/local_and_family_histor
y/614/hamiltons_royal_past), South Lanarkshire Council
2. Gow, Ian (2006). Scotland's Lost Houses. Aurum Press. ISBN 1845130510.
3. Walker, Gavin (1977). Hamilton Palace: A photographic record. Hamilton District Libraries.
ISBN 0950198323.
4. http://www.glasgowsculpture.com/pg_biography.php?sub=greenshields_j
5. Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1881, Rupert Gunnis
6. Avray Tipping, H. (1919) "Hamilton Palace", Country Life
7. https://www.westlothian.gov.uk/media/2592/Conservation-area-Bangour-Village-
Hospital/pdf/BVH2014update.pdf
External links
Hamilton Palace: A Virtual Reconstruction (https://sites.scran.ac.uk/vhp/index.html) - a website
developed by the Virtual Hamilton Palace Trust (https://www.vhpt.org), with maps, photographs,
and virtual reconstructions of the palace.
Hamilton Palace entry from The DiCamillo Database of British & Irish Country Houses (https://
www.thedicamillo.com/house/hamilton-palace) (archive of previous version from The DiCamillo
Companion (https://web.archive.org/web/20120427154753/http://www.dicamillocompanion.co
m/houses_detail.asp?ID=942))
Hamilton Palace (http://www.scottish-places.info/features/featurefirst7709.html) at Gazetteer for
Scotland
The Rise and Fall of Hamilton Palace (https://www.nms.ac.uk/explore-our-collections/stories/art
-and-design/the-rise-and-fall-of-hamilton-palace/) at National Museums Scotland
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Coordinates: 55.780000°N 4.

According to Professor Tait in Burlington Magazine, July

Decline and demolition The Duke of Hamilton's 18th century

The site today

The dining room from Hamilton Palace is on view at the Museum of

The remains of the tree-lined avenue that linked the palace to

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hamilton_Palace&oldid=989036679"

This page was last edited on 16 November 2020, at 18:16 (UTC).

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