Council aiming to take over ruin of Mavisbank House
Midlothian Council is set to launch a legal bid to take ownership of the ruins of a 300-year-old mansion after it received a £5.3 million grant towards its restoration.
Mavisbank House, near Loanhead, has been at the centre of a decades long campaign to save it from demolition and has been dubbed “Scotland’s most at risk mansion”. Campaigners have been fighting to save the Category A-listed building since fire ripped through it 50 years ago, almost burning it to the ground.
Mystery surrounds its current owners, and its condition following the blaze had left its future in doubt. But the National Heritage Memorial Fund has now announced a grant of £5.3m to the Landmark Trust to rescue and stabilise the mansion.
And Midlothian Council has said once funding is in place it will begin work to seek a Compulsory Purchase Order to take over the site.
Mavisbank House was built by Scottish architect William Adam in 1723 as a summer residence for John Clerk of Penicuik, a leading figure of the Scottish Enlightenment, and a signatory of the 1707 Act of Union.
It was a pioneering example of a neo-Classical design which William Adam’s son Robert and others would develop for Edinburgh’s New Town a generation later.
Historic buildings charity the Landmark Trust has been working with Midlothian Council, Historic Environment Scotland, the Mavisbank Trust and others to find a way to save Mavisbank for nearly a decade.
Kelly Parry, Midlothian Council leader, said: “We have long supported the opportunity to restore Mavisbank House, so this is wonderful news.”
The Trust and the local authority will now seek the purchase before preservation work begins. A second phase is planned to involve the restoration of the house, with the end use expected to be a mixture of accommodation for short residential stays and public access, including regular free open days.
Dr Anna Keay, director of the Landmark Trust, said: “Mavisbank has hung by little more than a thread for so long, with demolition seriously contemplated on more than one occasion.
“The Landmark Trust is absolutely thrilled that through this grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund, and the support and expertise of many others, we can start the process of saving it.”
The £5.3m grant is a huge boost to a funding package which includes £1.3m from other sources, including the Landmark Trust. A further £1.6m is needed to complete to project. To donate or find out more details, visit the campaign website at www.mavisbank.org.uk.
In the 19th century, Mavisbank became a mental hospital where reforming Doctor John Batty Tuke developed compassionate approaches to mental illness, including through exercise and gardening.
After the closure of the asylum, Mavisbank was sold and, following a major fire, demolition on safety grounds was ordered by the local authority in the mid-1980s. An emergency round-theclock vigil was maintained by local volunteers until the decision could be halted.