The restoration

I have often observed that Scotland appears to have far more historic ruins per square mile than any other territory in Western Europe. The obvious conclusion is that it has something to do with our national obsession with cherishing the idea of the past, but what has consistently troubled me is that nobody ever seems to be interested in restoration. Too expensive, is the usual response. Others with a misguided sense of romanticism fatuously insist that when a building falls victim either to the elements or to a fire, it should be left to disintegrate since this is part of its history. Well, that did not stop Her Majesty the Queen from restoring Windsor Castle.

During the 1950s, in the aftermath of World War II, it was as if planners through the United Kingdom were intent on finishing off the work of the German Luftwaffe by pulling down every derelict old building that they came across. In time their vandalism became so pronounced that a rearguard action sprang into life to protect our national heritage.

All well and good, but this still left a whole raft of fine old historic properties in Scotland in a state of limbo. Only recently has the situation started to improve with the restoration of such gems as Archerfield House in East Lothian.

In my youth I remember exploring the ruins of Penicuik House, south of Edinburgh, and marvelling at this classic example of a Palladian masterpiece gutted by fire on a summer night in 1899.

A relict of the Scottish Enlightenment, Penicu...

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• By : Roddy Martine
• In : Roddy Martine's World
• Issue : 41
• Page : 7
• Words : 816