Paxton House, Berwickshire

Paxton House is a historic house at Paxton, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, a few miles south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, overlooking the River Tweed. It is a country house built for Patrick Home of Billie in an unsuccessful attempt to woo a Prussian heiress, Sophie de Brandt. Attributed to James Adam (possibly in concert with John Adam), it was built between 1758 and 1766, under the supervision of James Nisbet, with extensive interiors (c1773) by Robert Adam, as well as furniture by Thomas Chippendale. The East Wing was added in 1812-13 by architect Robert Reid to house the library and picture gallery. Other inhabitants were Alexander Home and his son George Home (of Wedderburn and Paxton). In 1852 Jean Milne, the wife of David Milne, inherited the house and he renamed himself David Milne-Home. Formerly the seat of the Paxton family, who became Forman-Home, Milne-Home, and finally Home-Robertson as the direct male lines failed and the inheritance progressed through a female. In 1988, the last laird, John David Home Robertson, a Labour member of Parliament, placed the house and grounds into the Paxton House Historic Building Preservation Trust. It is now open to the public and is a Partner Gallery of National Galleries Scotland.

1. Paxton House Gallery

In 1780 Patrick Home of Wedderburn returned from his eight-year-long Grand Tour with an extensive collection of British and European paintings and died before the paintings were unpacked. Later on, Jean Home, who was to inherit the house and the paintings, employed the Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland, architect Robert Reid (1776–1856), to build what is now the East Wing of Paxton House to accommodate a library and a gallery. The gallery is now the only room housing a collection of paintings. The Paxton Trust in association with National Galleries Scotland have restored the Gallery to its original colour scheme. Patrick Home's pictures are now dispersed; a collection from the National Gallery has been hung in their place in the 19th-century manner.

1. See also

Wedderburn Castle

1. References

Borders and Berwick, by Charles A Strang, Rutland Press, 1994, p. 54, ISBN 1-873190-10-7

1. External links

Official site

Nearby Places View Menu

Union Chain Bridge

The Union Chain Bridge or Union Bridge is a suspension bridge that spans the River Tweed between Horncliffe, Northumberland, England and Fishwick, Berwickshire, Scotland. It is four miles (6.4 km) upstream of Berwick-upon-Tweed. When it opened in 1820 it was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world with a span of 449 feet (137 m), and the first vehicular bridge of its type in the United Kingdom. Although work started on the Menai Suspension Bridge earlier, the Union Bridge was completed first. The suspension bridge, which is a Category A listed building in Scotland, is now the oldest to be still carrying road traffic. The bridge is also a Grade I listed building in England and an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark. It lies on Sustrans Route 1 and the Pennine Cycleway. Its chains are represented on the Flag of Berwickshire.

Bridge Historic Site

1.0 km

Paxton, Scottish Borders

Paxton is a small village near the B6461 and the B6460, in the pre-1975 ancient county of Berwickshire, now an administrative area of the Borders region of Scotland. It lies one mile west of the border with Northumberland. It is a traditional, country village surrounded by farmland, and its closest market towns are Duns and Berwick-upon-Tweed. Paxton is beside the River Tweed which is the border at that point and on Whiteadder Water. Paxton is also the location of Paxton House. Linking Scotland and England, the nearby Union Chain Bridge, opened in 1820, was the longest wrought iron suspension bridge in the world. It was also the first of its kind in Britain.

Landmark Neighbourhood

Edrington

Edrington is a medieval estate occupying the lower part of Mordington parish in Berwickshire, Scotland, five miles (8.0 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed. From probably the 14th century, if not earlier, a castle occupied the steep hill above the mill of the same name on the Whiteadder Water. The castle ruin is still marked on today's Ordnance Survey maps, and still appears in locality references in The Berwickshire News. The principal farm of the estate is Edrington Mains.

Castle Historic Site

Fishwick, Scottish Borders

Fishwick is a parish with a small mediaeval village (now vanished) in the Scottish Borders, Scotland, in the traditional county of Berwickshire, seven miles from Berwick-upon-Tweed. The parish church is now a ruin and the parish is united with Hutton and Paxton. Today the parish consists of farms and scattered housing. There is also an old WWII airstrip, still occasionally used. Fishwick borders the north of the River Tweed which here constitutes the border with England. Anciently Fishwick was a possession of Coldingham Priory a cell of the Bishopric of Durham. The superiorities of the Priory became part of the Barony of Coldingham which in 1621 was held by James, 2nd Earl of Home (d. 1633). A William Purves was a resident in Fishwick in Nov 1577 when he witnessed a Sasine. Just south of the Tweed from Fishwick is the northernmost village in England, Horncliffe. Between Fishwick and Horncliffe is the famous Union Bridge, a very early suspension bridge dating from 1820. When it was opened it was the longest wrought-iron suspension bridge in the world, and it is still carrying traffic, though now only one vehicle at a time. One of the toll cottages was demolished in 1955. The crossing is now toll-free.