[88392] Chatelherault Hunting Lodge

Chatelherault Hunting Lodge, Ferniegair, South Lanarkshire, 1732-43.

By William Adam (1689-1748).

A listed.

 

An ornamental hunting lodge built as an eyecatcher terminating the Hamilton Palace south avenue and with a long baroque symmetrical facade. Abandoned when Hamilton Palace was demolished circa 1929, and restored by Historic Scotland in conjunction with Hamilton District Council, 1978-87.

 

Chatelherault Hunting Lodge has overlooked the surrounding grounds for over 270 years. Essentially a folly, the lodge is a long, thin construction only one room wide, very modest in comparison to Hamilton Palace, and the design was built to deceive, giving the impression of an additional palace on the grounds.

 

The hunting lodge was also, as the name suggests, a place of refuge for the Duke’s hunting parties, as well as a home for the keeper and the 30 to 40 hounds kept for hunting pursuits. Both the 5th Duke of Hamilton, and the architect William Adam, referred to the lodge ironically as “the dog kennel”. The building included an open courtyard, off which would have been kennels, which would have housed the dogs.

 

The dramatic views north from the lodge are accentuated by the steep slope which occurs on this side of the building. This is the result of extensive quarrying works, which also resulted in the subsidence of both the lodge and Hamilton Palace, with the latter being demolished in the 1920s due to instability. The lodge, however, survived, although the uneven floors are still obvious to anyone walking in the west lodge.

 

In addition to the early 20th century subsidence, much of the building was gutted by fire in the 1940s, and remained as a ruin until the 1970s, when it was gifted to the nation in lieu of taxes following the death of the 14th Duke in 1973. It was restored over a ten year period by Historic Scotland, and opened to the public in 1987. The interiors of the lodge were fully restored, with faithfully recreated Georgian plasterwork and furnishings, paintings and painstaking stonemasonry. The kennel courtyard was converted into a visitor centre with a roof in 1996.

 

Done