Clock is ticking for Scottish Enlightenment mansion Mavisbank House

Now there are hopes that the 18th century mansion near Edinburgh, with its array of historic links that add to its credentials as one of Scotland’s architectural treasures, might just be within touching distance of finally being rescued.

And, that at the heart of the rebuilt property could be the very dining table around which some of the nation’s brightest minds once gathered.

Campaigners who have devoted decades to trying to save the category A-listed building are waiting with bated breath for news of the latest desperate effort to raise funds that will secure its future.

Campaign group, The Mavisbank Trust, has used the property's archives to create digital reconstructions of how it once looked (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

A decision from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in response to a grant request for £5 million to help save the house and restore it as a holiday let with community space, is believed to be within touching distance.

The Fund’s trustees have poured over the request from The Landmark Trust, a charity devoted to restoring historic buildings, recently carried out a comprehensive site visit and, with its members due to have met in March, is expected to deliver their decision within weeks.

If it gives the go ahead, it will bring to an end decades of deadlock that have seen mounting fears for the once grand villa designed by leading architect William Adam in collaboration with Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, a leading figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

A digital reconstruction shows Mavisbank House as it once looked, with large walled garden and grand entrance (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

As if to herald a change in the building’s chequered fortunes, the small but devoted group which has tried for more than 30 years to secure its future, is already celebrating a small success.

By chance, William Kay, an architectural historian who had carried out research on the property for The Mavisbank Trust was recently scrolling through an Edinburgh auction house catalogue when he spotted a 1730s dining table among the lots.

He was fresh from working on a digital reconstruction of the property and its key rooms that had involved scouring thousands of detailed records, plans and centuries-old invoices for furnishings.  And he realised the mahogany table - big enough to comfortably seat 14 diners -  had direct links to the house.

A receipt for the 18th century dining table which one stood at the heart of Mavisbank House, now bought by local campaigners (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

The table is unusual, made from a single piece of timber and a very early example of a mahogany table as prior to the 1700s most were made of pine, oak, beech and other European woods.

The find - confirmed by the existence of an old invoice proving its purchase - sparked an emergency appeal to raise the funds to buy it, meaning that should the house indeed be rebuilt, the table can be returned to where it once stood.

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Chris Lewis, Trust advisor and a former trustee of the Mavisbank Trust, says Adam – whose sons, Robert, John and James went on to be famed for their architecture - and Clerk, a politician, judge, composer and leading figure in the creation of the Act of Union, kept comprehensive records of the house’s construction and interiors making it possible to accurately visualise how it would have looked in its prime.

Research by The Mavisbank Trust has revealed what the property once looked like (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

The archives have enabled the Trust to create digital examples of the Mavisbank interiors, even down to colours of paint on the walls as they would have been 300 years ago.

“When Adam and Clerk built the house they kept every plan and invoice even down to detailing a 10ft painted mural on one of the walls,” he adds. “It meant we were able to establish the dining table’s provenance.

“It was just weeks before the dining table was due to go to auction, but thanks to donors from around the country we were able to raise sufficient funds with just days to spare.

“The idea is that when Mavisbank is restored it will take its rightful place there.”

Mavisbank House was built in the 1720s as a handy country retreat for Sir John Clerk of Penicuik, within striking distance by pony from the heart of Edinburgh’s polluted city centre.

He had been educated in Leiden and had travelled through Europe. With experience of European buildings and culture, he sought to develop his own form of classical villa.

Digital reconstruction of Mavisbank House near Loanhead (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

Intended as a halfway house between his obligations in Edinburgh and his main family seat in Penicuik, its new Palladian style featuring a centre block and two pavilions, kickstarted a trend for similar mansions around the country.

In its Enlightenment prime, Mavisbank hosted gatherings of the brightest minds, however eventually the Clerk family moved on and in 1815 it was sold.

After a period in private hands, by the 1850s it had entered a new phase as a private mental health asylum.

Renamed New Saughton Hall, pioneering doctors led by Dr John Batty Tuke introduced groundbreaking practices that saw more humane treatment of patients and a compassionate approach.

Research has revealed what the dining room of Mavisbank House once looked like (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

Rather than regarding them as criminals or undesirables, they offered gentle therapies such as gardening, and regarded their condition as medical.

The appointment of a woman as its head gardener was equally radical: Mary E Burton was self-taught and the first female professional gardener in Scotland.

During the First World War, Mavisbank would become a calming place of recovery for soldiers discharged for ill-health and shell-shock.

Its demise began in the 1950s when it was taken over by a private owner who used it as, among other things, a car breakers yard.

A fire in the 1970s was followed by neglect and abandonment. With the roof and most of the floors gone, and confusion over its ownership which saw the FBI scouring America for what turned out to be fictious owners, it had seemed destined for demolition.

A last gasp appeal by campaigners saw it saved from being lost for good, but pleas for it to be restored failed. 

Instead, categorised as ‘High Risk’ and in ‘Ruinous’ condition on the Buildings at Risk register, it has been wrapped in scaffolding by Historic Environment Scotland to help prevent total collapse.

The Mavisbank Trust has created digital images showing the grand entrance to the now ruined house (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

With the building deteriorating, two attempts to gain National Lottery funding failed. The property even gained UK-wide prominence when it featured on the BBC's Restoration series, only to miss out on millions of pounds of funding.

In what's being seen as a final roll of the dice, The Landmark Trust has said it hopes National Heritage Memorial Fund backing might kickstart extra funding towards a restoration bill which is likely to exceed £12 million.

“A NHMF grant in the region of £5 million would enable Landmark to pursue phase one of a fresh plan to give Mavisbank House a vibrant and sustainable future," it says.

“This vital phase would see the crumbling building and pavilions stabilised before any more historic fabric falls away, enable up-to-date condition surveys and resolve the long-standing ownership and access issues.”Research carried out by campaigners has revealed what Mavisbank House originally looked like (Image: The Mavisbank Trust)

Meanwhile, The Mavisbank Trust, which has fronted a number of unsuccessful funding applications aimed at saving the property, has thanked donors for helping secure the dining table . It is now focusing on establishing a ‘Friends of Mavisbank’  group which aims to generate local community interest and engagement in activities within the property's grounds.

Mr Lewis adds that The Landmark Trust’s holiday accommodation and community use plans appears to have support among locals: “It has been in limbo for many years, it has an international reputation and there is a huge amount of support." 

While the newly acquired dining table has particular significance: “It is a symbol of how Mavisbank House has survived against the odds,” he adds.