Eildon Hall (Scottish Borders)

55°35′00″N 2°41′49″W / 55.583419°N 2.696865°W / 55.583419; -2.696865 Eildon Hall, near St Boswells, Roxburghshire, is one of the houses belonging to the Dukes of Buccleuch and Queensbury. It is located at the foot of Eildon Hill, just south of the town of Melrose in the Scottish Borders. Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (née Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott, daughter of the seventh Duke) is very descriptive of Eildon Hall, her childhood home, in her memoirs. She describes it as a "Georgian house with Victorian additions, made from the local coral pink sandstone,"[1] and "standing 600 feet above sea level."[2] She also describes the view from the house as a "wonderful view of the valley below stretching away to the Cheviots thirty miles distant."[1]

Eildon Hall. Eildon Hall and its surrounding woodland at the foot of the Eildon Hills are part of the Buccleuch Estates.

Eildon Hall is used as a principal residence by whosoever happens to be the Earl of Dalkeith, heir to the Dukedom of Buccleuch.[3] "Perhaps because Eildon was the first grown-up home of aspiring Dukes of Buccleuch," wrote Princess Alice, "and has therefore always been a young family's house, it has a charmingly domestic air."[2] It is less known than the other properties of the Montagu Douglas Scott family--Drumlanrig Castle, Bowhill House,[4] and Boughton House,[5] all three of which are where the bulk of the Duke of Buccleuch collections are housed.[4] The family of the Earl of Dalkeith will generally use it until he inherits the title of Duke of Buccleuch, such as in the cases of the respective fathers of Princess Alice of Gloucester[1] and Elizabeth, Duchess of Northumberland (née Lady Elizabeth Montagu-Douglas-Scott).[5] Lady Elizabeth, who died as Dowager Duchess of Northumberland in 2012, was the daughter of Princess Alice's brother, Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 8th Duke of Buccleuch and lived at Eildon Hall until 1935 when her grandfather, the seventh Duke,[5] died.

When Princess Alice was growing up, Eildon Hall part of the succession of houses where the family lived throughout the year. After spending the "Season" at Montagu House in London, her parents, siblings, and she would travel up to Eildon House and stay there through the end of summer. Then they would move to Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfriesshire. Christmas was invariably spent at Dalkeith House near Edinburgh. In the new year, they would move to Bowhill, thence to Boughton at Easter, to London for the Season, back to Eildon Hall and so on.[1][2]

  1. ^ a b c d Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alice (1983). Memoirs (Hardcover ed.). London: Harper Collins.
  2. ^ a b c Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Alice (1991). Memories of Ninety Years (Hardcover ed.). London: Collins & Brown. p. 17. ISBN 9781855850392.
  3. ^ "Duke of Buccleuch dies at home at 83". The Sunday Herald (UK). Archived from the original on 17 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  4. ^ a b "Duke of Buccleuch". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 17 December 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2017.
  5. ^ a b c "Dowager Duchess of Northumberland". The Telegraph (UK). Archived from the original on 22 September 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2017.