The Broughton Gallery

In the latest of our series on Scotland's galleries and museums, Charles Douglas visits a very special art gallery in the Borders

Visitors to Scotland have a habit of by-passing some of the great treasures of the Lowlands, such as the small and picturesque village of Broughton, close to the source of the great River Tweed in the hills of Upper Tweeddale, south of Peeblesshire.

A quiet place, it seems to me, the ideal spot to house a contemporary art and crafts collection. And that is exactly what you find here installed at Broughton Place, a tower house situated on the northern approach, designed in the 1930s by the architect Sir Basil Spence, whose centenary is this year.

As was so often the case with historic buildings in Scotland, Broughton Place was erected on the site of Broughton House. This itself had incorporated part of an older tower house, the home of Sir John Murray who acted as secretary to Prince Charles Edward Stuart after his arrival in Scotland in 1745. Following the Battle of Culloden in 1746, Murray, who had been taken ill, sought refuge at Glenmoriston, across Loch Ness. From here he fled to Peeblesshire, where he was arrested and dispatched to the Tower of London.

Having turned King's Evidence against his former Jacobite compatriots, he was largely shunned by his friends and colleagues after his release and remained in England until his death in 1777.

Following a visit from him at some stage after the Uprising, Sir Walter Scott's father threw the teacup that Murray had used out of the window, declaring, “Neither lip of me nor mine comes after Mr Murray of Broughton's.” Thirt...

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• By : Charles Douglas
• In : Destinations
• Issue : 31
• Page : 44
• Words : 659