| Day out to Rozelle House | for everyone |
ROZELLE HOUSE
This
is one of the places Jackie took me while I was staying with her. It's
called Rozelle House and was originally a mansion house at the centre of
an estate built in the 1700s. The Hamilton's of Rozelle gifted the
mansion, and grounds, to the people of Ayr in 1968 to be used for
culture and recreation purposes.
The History of Rozelle House
The
Royal Burgh of Ayr held the Rozelle lands as part of the Barony lands
of Alloway until an auction in 1754 aimed at reducing the Burgh debt.
Robert Hamilton bought the lands for just £2,000 in the 1754 auction.
The Hamilton family were merchants and wealthy land owners who made
their fortune in the sugar and tobacco industries in the West Indies.
The first mansion house was finished by 1760 and was in the classical
style of Robert Adam (not actually designed by Adam).
The
House and estate did well for the family throughout the 18th and 19th
centuries and added to their accumulated wealth, but by the 1960s, like
many other families in a similar position, the Hamilton family found
them selves struggling with high death duties and taxation. This led to
the sale of large areas of land surrounding the house. In 1968 the
house,( sadly with none of its historic interior remaining), was gifted
to the Royal Burgh of Ayr. This ultimately resulted in the establishment
of the Council's Museum and Art Gallery. Between 1975 and 1976 the
servants' quarters and stable block were converted into the Maclaurin
Art Galleries with funds bequested by Mrs Mary Ellen Maclaurin in memory
of her late husband.
Rozelle House Now
Rozelle
House is now the major display venue in Ayrshire, it is currently
showing the impressive collection, ‘’Tam O' Shanter’’, a series of 54
paintings, by Alexander Goudie depicting the classic Burns tale. (
more of this later) There are also a number of smaller exhibitions, art
workshops and classes which are all open to the public.
The
house is also home to the Ayrshire Yeomanry museum, The museum
collection traces the history of the Regiment from its formation in
1793, through its service as cavalry in South Africa, infantry in World
War I and artillery in World War II. The displays include uniformed
figures, medals , weapons, maps, photographs, paintings and memorabilia
from the Regiment’s various campaigns. A military museum is not really
my thing but the history aspect of it was very interesting.
The Maclaurin Galleries
The
servant quarters and stable block at Rozelle House were converted into
art galleries and a gift shop at the request of Mrs Maclaurin,
benefactor. The Maclaurin Galleries opened in June 1976, and consists of
four galleries, which are attached via corridors to Rozelle House. I
loved these galleries because while we were there they had huge
exhibitions of art work from almost all schools in the area. Some of the
exhibits were from children as young as 4 or 5 and some were submitted
by 18 year olds just about to start university.
The Maclaurin Collection also included paintings, drawings, sculptures and prints acquired by commission or purchased from artists or art dealers. The emphasis is on the modern period, loosely defined as 1900-1990. There is also a collection 19th century work which was previously the property of the last private owners of the estate.
Rozelle Craft shop
Rozelle
Craft shop is housed in another part of the stable block, it opened in
1996 and has become well known for its specialist hand blown glass and
other local craft produce.
The
only thing I didn’t manage to find out was who made the stone
sculptures sitting in the grounds of the house. I was quite impressed
with these, they complimented the landscape but unfortunately, I
couldn’t see anything that said who made them or when they were made.
This was another wonderful day out and the full set of pictures are here
11 Comments
Add a Comment
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 7, '10
have fixed the photos now so they can all be enlarged.
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dianahopeless wrote on Aug 7, '10
What
a wonderful blog post! I just love armchair tours of historical places.
This one certainly has a lot of history. To me the only thing as nice
as a flower garden, would be something with art. I especially like
sculptures. I'm looking forward to checking out your photos. And thank
you Loretta, for sharing your vacation. ((hugs))
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greenwytch wrote on Aug 7, '10
looks like a really photogenic place! ; D
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 7, '10
Sorry
Brenda, I forgot to swap over to firefox, I have this odd situation
where the text of a post seems to be better if I use IE but I have to
swap over to firefox to get the photos loaded properly...............!!
odd I know lol
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s because there are a couple that you have here that I'd like to see bigger 
brendainmad wrote on Aug 7, '10
Look
forward to seeing all the photos because there are a couple that you
have here that I'd like to see bigger (well, I can always make the text
and photos bigger).
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blondino01ontal9 wrote on Aug 7, '10
thanks for the post , I have never heard of this place.
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