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Paternal Seat or Classical Villa? Patrick Smyth, James Smith and the Building of Methven 1678 to 1682

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 April 2016

Charles Wemyss
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Extract

The old-fashioned appearance of Methven Castle, which lies five miles to the west of Perth, has encouraged historians to describe it as a country house of transitional significance. Built in 1664, it has been linked stylistically with the design of Panmure in Angus (1661) and John Mylne, the distinguished king’s master mason. It contrasted sharply with the stark classicism of two other post-Restoration houses in Perthshire, Dunkeld (1676) and Moncreiffe (1679), conceived by Sir William Bruce. Yet the muniments of the Smythe Family of Methven suggest a very different story. Since building work at Methven did not begin until 1678, it did not predate Dunkeld and Moncreiffe at all. It was the last of the three houses to be completed and what is more its owner, Patrick Smyth, was intimately acquainted with the other two houses and even employed the chief mason from Dunkeld.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 46 , 2003 , pp. 109 - 126
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 2003

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References

Notes

1 Methven, Dunkeld and Moncreiffe all lay within a fifteen-mile radius of Perth. Dunkeld was demolished in 1827 and Moncreiffe irreparably damaged by fire in 1957. Methven has been restored to its late seventeenth-century format by its current owners Mr and Mrs Ken Murdoch. Macaulay, J., The Classical Country House in Scotland (London, 1987), p. 6 Google Scholar, and Glendinning, Miles, Machines, Ranald and MacKechnie, Aonghus, A History of Scottish Architecture (Edinburgh, 1996), p. 83 Google Scholar.

2 John Adair, The Mappe of Stratheirn, Stormont & Cars of Gaurie, with the Rivers of Tay & Ern, surveighed & designed .. anno 1683, National Library of Scotland.

3 Strathmore’s oft-cited maxim, ‘I never judged my owne small endeavours worthie to make so much noice as to call for or invit to either of my houses skd Architecture’, may have been the result of his protracted legal battle with that ‘teuch lawer’, Sir William Bruce. ‘The Book of Record — A Diary written by Patrick, 1st Earl of Strathmore, and other documents relating to Glamis Castle. 1684-1689’, ed. Miller, A. H., Scottish History Society, 9 (Edinburgh, 1890), p. 42 Google Scholar.

4 It appears that James Smith attended the Scots College in Rome where he studied rhetoric, philosophy and theology from 1671 to 1675. He later declared himself to have received a ‘liberal education at schools and colledges at home and abroad and occasion to know the world by travelling abroad’. Colvin, H. M., ‘A Scottish Origin for English Palladianism’, Architectural History, 17 (1974), p. 10 CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

5 Charter dated 1541 in favour of William Smyth, GD190/2/12, National Archive of Scotland.

6 The letters of Bishop Graham to his son David Graham concerning the purchase of the Gorthy Estate in Strathearn demonstrate a clear understanding of the pertinent factors relating to late seventeenth-century property transfer. Thomson, W. L., History of Orkney (Edinburgh, 1987), p. 182 Google Scholar, and ‘Some Letters and Correspondence of George Graeme, Bishop of Dunblane and of Orkney 1602-1638’, ed. Graeme, L. G., Scottish History Society, Misc. II (Edinburgh, 1904), p. 253 Google Scholar.

7 Letter from Alexander Johnstoun to Patrick Smyth of Braco, GD190/2/186, National Archive of Scotland.

8 Letter from Patrick Smyth to Anne Keith, 10 May 1650, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

9 Contract dated October 1654, between Patrick Smyth and Walter Dalgleish ‘Clerk of the Regalty of Dunfermline’ for the sale of eighteen lasts of salmon and grilse to be delivered to Garmouth, GD190/3/152, National Archive of Scotland.

10 Mitchison, R., Lordship to Patronage, Scotland 1603-1745 (Edinburgh, 1983), p. 70 Google Scholar.

11 Letter from Patrick Smyth to Anne Keith 1658, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

12 Chronicles of the Families of Atholl and Tullibardine, 1, ed. Murray, J., seventh Duke of Atholl (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 164 Google Scholar.

13 Letter dated 3 February 1682 from Margaret, Countess of Caithness, to Patrick Smyth, GD190/3/193/10, National Archive of Scotland.

14 Note written by Patrick Smyth attached to an inventory of household goods, GD190/3/202/24, National Archive of Scotland.

15 In keeping with the Scottish predilection for kinship, it seems to have been universal practice for country house datestones of the seventeenth century to bear the maiden name, rather than the married name, of the laird’s wife. At Methven, a small inscription carries the initials ‘PS/AK’.

16 Smyth wrote about John Gibson, ‘In al my relations I have never found more faithful stedfastness’. Letter from Patrick Smyth to Anne Keith dated 7 May 1658, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

17 Letter from Patrick Smyth to Anne Keith dated 13 May 1668, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

18 Undated letter from Anne Keith to Patrick Smyth, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

19 From a copy of the original charter in the possession of Mr and Mrs Ken Murdoch.

20 ‘Estimate of the Scottish Nobility during the reign of King James VI’, ed. Rev.Rogers, Charles (London, 1873), p. 63 Google Scholar.

21 Graeme, P. S., Pateas Amicis — The Story of the House of Graemeshall in Orkney (Kirkwall, 1936), p. 6 Google Scholar.

22 Amongst the Smythe family papers there is a note written in 1685; ‘Compt off the Monney receted from Ballechen & others upon My Lord Atholl’s acompt at severall tymes for building his Lo’s housse’. Murray, , Chronicles, 1, p. 172 Google Scholar.

23 The form of address used by John Smyth to Patrick Smyth, ‘Honoured Sir’, suggests that the two were unrelated. Letter from John Smyth to Patrick Smyth dated 27 May 1680, GD190/3/181/11, National Archive of Scotland.

24 ‘Genealogical Collections concerning families in Scotland, made by Walter Macfarlane 1750-1751’, ed. Clark, J. T., Scottish History Society, 1 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 46 Google Scholar.

25 There is no reference to the specific house that Robert Mylne was building. Letter from Sir Thomas Moncreiffe to Patrick Smyth dated 14 October 1680, GD190/3/181/23, National Archive of Scotland.

26 Letter from Arme Keith to Patrick Smyth dated 14 September 1681, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

27 Letter from Patrick Smyth to Anne Keith dated 15 June 1681, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

28 Amongst the Cromartie papers there is a document in Lord Tarbat’s handwriting which gives detailed dimensions of an unspecified house. Clough, M., Two Houses — New Tarhat, Easter Ross, Royston House, Edinburgh (Aberdeen, 1990), p. 73 Google Scholar.

29 McKean suggests that the asymmetry of the Baberton/Pitreavie type of U-plan may have been intentional. Where a formal procession was required in a single pile house, there was no option but to locate the entrance at one side of the building. At Duntarvie, where the entrance was placed at the centre, the formal state rooms lay on either side of the main stair and did not provide an enfilade. McKean, C., The Scottish Chateau (Stroud, 2001), p. 195 Google Scholar.

30 The terminology used in the floor plan of Moncreiffe is drawn from Sir Thomas’s inventory. Moncreiff, F. and Moncreiffe, W., The Moncreiffs and the Moncreiffes, 1 (Edinburgh, 1929), p. 662 Google Scholar.

31 For a convenient transcript of the Gallery contract. ‘Some late 17th century Building Contracts’, ed. Dunbar, J. G. and Davies, K., Scottish History Society, Misc. XI (Edinburgh, 1990), p. 295 Google Scholar.

32 Letter from Anne Keith to Patrick Smyth dated 8 July 1678, Perth Museum and Art Gallery, Box 449.

33 The many drawings in the collection can be subdivided into two distinct house types, those c. 60 ft wide and those c. 100 ft wide. The smaller houses incorporate the state/lodging arrangement on separate floors. The larger houses are divided into state/family apartments on separate floors: James Smith’s design for a Classical Villa, SC 129/5/1; James Smith’s design for a House with Pavilions, SC 129/5/24; James Smith’s designs for smaller houses with the principal stair at the entrance, SC 129/5/3,4,14. (All in RIBA Library Drawings Collection.)

34 Attention has been drawn to the similarity in the planning of so many of James Smith’s designs for smaller country houses by Dr Aonghus MacKechnie. MacKechnie, A., ‘James Smith’s Smaller Country House’, in Aspects of Scottish Classicism, the house and its formal setting 1690-1750, ed. Frew, J. and Jones, D. (St Andrews, 1988), p. 12 Google Scholar.

35 This conclusion of the earlier origins of the spinal wall results from extensive discussions between the writer, Prof. McKean and the present proprietor of Methven, Mr Ken Murdoch, who carried out much of the recent refurbishment with his own hands. At ground and first floor levels this wall is unnecessarily thick (max. 5 ft 6 in.).

36 Letter from David Smyth to Patrick Smyth dated February 1682, GD190/3/191/13, National Archive of Scotland.

37 Sir William Brereton, an English visitor to Scotland in 1636, observed ‘gentlemen’s houses built all castle-wise’. A similar description was used by Sir Thomas Morer in 1689, ‘the houses of their quality are high and strong and appear more like castles than houses’. Early Travellers in Scotland, ed. Brown, P. Hume (Edinburgh 1891), pp. 148 Google Scholar & 274.

38 The House of Nairne (Perthshire) was built in c. 1710 for William, second Lord Nairn, and was demolished fifty years later by the second Duke of Atholl. ‘Sir William Bruce 1630-1710’, ed. Dunbar, J. G., A Scottish Arts Council Exhibition Catalogue (1970), p. 20 Google Scholar. Plans for Kinnaird Castle (Angus) were prepared by Sir William Bruce c. 1695-98 for the fourth Earl of Southesk, but were never executed. Dunbar, J. G., ‘Two Late Seventeenth-Century Designs for Kinnaird Castle’, in Scottish Country Houses 1600-1914, ed. Gow, I. & Rowan, A. (Edinburgh, 1995), p. 42 Google Scholar.

39 Plans of Dupplin (Perthshire) drawn by James Playfair in 1789 show that the original Palladian house designed by James Smith incorporated a single circular tower on the south-west corner, RCAHMS Library, TD/144/2. Brechin Castie (Angus) was remodelled for the fourth Earl of Panmure by Alexander Edward before 1704. Macaulay, The Classical Country House, p. 48.