Eastern Davy
House of the Binns
Perhaps inhabited since prehistoric times, Binns Hill may have been the site of a Pictish fort.
Written records begin in 1335, and record a land of the "Bynnis". There was certainly a manor house here by 1478, when records indicate the owner was an Archibald Meldrum, son of the late James Meldrum of the Bynnis. In 1599, it was owned by James Lord Lyndsay, who sold it to Sir William Livingston of Kilsyth.
In 1612 the estate was purchased by a wealthy and well-connected Edinburgh burgess, Thomas Dalyell. Dalyell was a butter merchant, who had become prosperous importing butter from Orkney to Leith (to be sold as axle grease). In 1601, he had married the daughter of Edward, Lord Kinloss and, when the Scots King, James VI, ascended to the English throne and Kinloss was made his Master of the Rolls in London, Dalyell obtained the lucrative post of deputy. In that senior position, he acquired enough of a fortune to return to Scotland and join the landed gentry. He bought "the lands of Bynnis and Croceflattis wirth the manor place thereof", and the Dalyell family have lived there ever since. Between 1621 and 1630, this Thomas Dalyell rebuilt the original house, and parts of the interior still reflect that period; in particular the north-west portion of the present entrance front, and decoration of the High Hall and King's Room (created in the hope of a visit from Charles I, which never came to be). These rooms still contain examples of some of the earliest cornices and mouldings in Scotland. Thomas Dalyell's more famous son, the Royalist General Sir Tam Dalyell continued the development of the house, adding the first of the towers, and the western range.
Today the house principally reflects its extensions of the mid 18th and early 19th century. In the 1740s, Robert Dalyell added the dining-room and a morning room, whilst around 1810, the architect William Burn (1789–1870) adapted the building to the Scottish baronial style, adding further towers and mock battlements. Some of the Gothic exterior decoration was inspired by Walter Scott, who was a friend of the Dalyell family. Today, the building is three-storey at the main north facade, with two-storey wings.
In 1944, the house, its parkland, its contents, and an endowment for its upkeep were given to the National Trust for Scotland by Eleanor Dalyell. The charter she granted states that the "history, legend and memory of the family of Dalyell of the Binns, shall be preserved..." for the benefit and enjoyment of the nation. However, the right of the family to reside in the house was retained. The former MP for Linlithgow and "Father of the House", Sir Tam Dalyell (1932–2017), lived in the western range of the house. His widow, Kathleen, is the National Trust's representative for the House of the Binns and heavily involved in its maintenance.
House of the Binns
Perhaps inhabited since prehistoric times, Binns Hill may have been the site of a Pictish fort.
Written records begin in 1335, and record a land of the "Bynnis". There was certainly a manor house here by 1478, when records indicate the owner was an Archibald Meldrum, son of the late James Meldrum of the Bynnis. In 1599, it was owned by James Lord Lyndsay, who sold it to Sir William Livingston of Kilsyth.
In 1612 the estate was purchased by a wealthy and well-connected Edinburgh burgess, Thomas Dalyell. Dalyell was a butter merchant, who had become prosperous importing butter from Orkney to Leith (to be sold as axle grease). In 1601, he had married the daughter of Edward, Lord Kinloss and, when the Scots King, James VI, ascended to the English throne and Kinloss was made his Master of the Rolls in London, Dalyell obtained the lucrative post of deputy. In that senior position, he acquired enough of a fortune to return to Scotland and join the landed gentry. He bought "the lands of Bynnis and Croceflattis wirth the manor place thereof", and the Dalyell family have lived there ever since. Between 1621 and 1630, this Thomas Dalyell rebuilt the original house, and parts of the interior still reflect that period; in particular the north-west portion of the present entrance front, and decoration of the High Hall and King's Room (created in the hope of a visit from Charles I, which never came to be). These rooms still contain examples of some of the earliest cornices and mouldings in Scotland. Thomas Dalyell's more famous son, the Royalist General Sir Tam Dalyell continued the development of the house, adding the first of the towers, and the western range.
Today the house principally reflects its extensions of the mid 18th and early 19th century. In the 1740s, Robert Dalyell added the dining-room and a morning room, whilst around 1810, the architect William Burn (1789–1870) adapted the building to the Scottish baronial style, adding further towers and mock battlements. Some of the Gothic exterior decoration was inspired by Walter Scott, who was a friend of the Dalyell family. Today, the building is three-storey at the main north facade, with two-storey wings.
In 1944, the house, its parkland, its contents, and an endowment for its upkeep were given to the National Trust for Scotland by Eleanor Dalyell. The charter she granted states that the "history, legend and memory of the family of Dalyell of the Binns, shall be preserved..." for the benefit and enjoyment of the nation. However, the right of the family to reside in the house was retained. The former MP for Linlithgow and "Father of the House", Sir Tam Dalyell (1932–2017), lived in the western range of the house. His widow, Kathleen, is the National Trust's representative for the House of the Binns and heavily involved in its maintenance.