The Picturesque Scottish castle built on land admired by Robert Burns and erased by war

In 1787, a successful young poet travelled to the capital to mark the publication of the second edition of his works. To celebrate this feat, and presumably to gain further inspiration for his writings, the 28-year-old Robert Burns then set off from Edinburgh on May 5 of the same year on a horseback tour of the Scottish Borders. The adventure, which one could leisurely undertake in under a week utilising 21st-century car power, would take the young poet almost two months on his trusty steed.

During his epic adventure, Burns’s company was sought out by Sir James Hall — an eminent and exceedingly well travelled Scottish geologist and geophysicist — who relieved him of a day in the company of a Mr Sherrif ('a talkative, conceited idiot,' according to Burns). Hall showed Burns his land at Dunglass — his East Lothian estate overlooking the Firth of Forth. Burns described the estate as the 'most romantic sweet place I ever saw'.

Hall inherited the estate in 1776 from his father, another Sir James, who had the dubious pleasure of being the first 'Englishman' that Napoleon said he ever met (he was most definitely Scottish). Hall's (the younger) sizeable new estate included a pre-Reformation collegiate church, and a rather dilapidated castle. The latter was constructed on the site of Thomas Cromwell's headquarters — which was said to have also been the last resting place in Scotland of James VI, before he crossed to border in order to claim the English crown.

Over time, Hall — clearly something of a romantic — took it upon himself to commission a new, Picturesque property on the land — one that his new acquaintance. Burns, would sadly never return to see.

The new Dunglass was built on the edge of Dunglass Dean, a dramatic, deep ravine, home to a mesmerising, tumbling torrent of water — the Dunglass Burn. The design of the new structure followed the Picturesque principles of Sir Uvedale Price whose architectural beliefs were the polar opposite of Capability Brown’s landscaping ones. Price believed that the well-worn path, the inconveniently-placed old tree and the rustic rock formation were an integral part of the land and should all be retained and incorporated into new designs, to add value and interest.

Hall commissioned the landscape artist and engineer Alexander Nasmyth — coincidentally more famous today for his portrait of Burns — to draw up the plans for his new home not in the form of technical drawings, but on canvas. The painting was then entrusted to architect Richard Crichton.

The house was built between 1807 and 1813, inspired by both Robert Adam — with whom Crichton had trained — and Hall's favourite architect, Sir John Vanbrugh. And it remained in his family until 1919 when, like so many large properties in the wake of the First World War, it was put on the market. However, unlike many other properties, it was not left to fall into a state of disrepair.

Dunglass Castle was purchased by Frank James Usher — who carried out a series of renovation works on the then 100-year-old building and contacted Country Life to enquire a possible article.

The pictures accompanying this piece are from a piece published in the magazine in 1925 — and they show the castle towering above the Dunglass Burn, as if hewn from the rock beneath it. Though rooms were decorated in restrained Georgian style, the renovations had clearly been extensive, bringing electric light and bathrooms to the 19th Century structure. Sadly, it's future beyond this point was not particularly bright.

During the Second World War, the Castle was requisitioned for use as a boarding school for more 300 students who left it in a state of disrepair. The building, now roofless, was left to rot.

Usher's grandson inherited what was left in 1954 and rather than paying the monumental costs required to restore it to its former glory, had the whole thing blown up with gelignite (a powerful, gel-like explosive). Thankfully, the 15th century church escaped the quarrymen’s explosives.

The estate is still owned by the Usher family who, in 1961, had a new property built. Today, it is primarily used as a wedding venue.

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