Gosford House is the family
seat of the Charteris family and is situated near Longniddry
in East
Lothian
, Scotland
. It
was recently the home of the late
Rt. Hon. David Charteris, 12th
Earl of Wemyss and 8th
Earl of March,
chief of the name and arms of
Charteris.
Gosford was built by the
7th Earl of Wemyss
between 1790 and 1800. It was built to plans by the architect
Robert Adam (1728–1792), who died before
the house was completed. The
8th Earl knocked down
the wings, and his grandson, the
10th Earl, rebuilt
them in 1891 to designs by the architect
William Young. The south wing
contains the marble hall. Gosford is built in the
neoclassical style.
During
World War II, the
British Army occupied the house, and burnt out
the main rooms of the central block. It was re-roofed in 1987, and
restoration of the central block is an ongoing process, which has
been progressed in the last ten years by Shelagh,
Countess of Wemyss and March. The ponds in the
policies were recently restored by
James Charteris, 13th Earl
of Wemyss who took over the family estate and title in December
2008 when his father died.
Gosford can be seen from Edinburgh
on a clear day. It is open to the public in
the summer. The grounds boast an unusual and rare example of a
Scottish
Curling House. The interior
and exterior of Gosford House were used in the 2000 film
House of Mirth, directed by
Terence Davies and based on the novel
by
Edith Wharton.
See also