Kinneil House is a historic house to the west of Bo'ness in east-central Scotland. It was once the principal seat of the Hamilton family in the east of Scotland. The house was saved from demolition in 1936 when 16th-century mural paintings were discovered, and it is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. The house now consists of a symmetrical mansion built in 1677 on the remains of an earlier 16th- or 15th-century tower house, with two rows of gunloops for early cannon still visible. A smaller east wing, of the mid 16th century, contains the two painted rooms. The house is protected as a Category A listed building.
It sits within a public park, which also incorporates a section of the Roman Antonine Wall and the only example of an Antonine fortlet with visible remains.
Early history
The lands of Kinneil with Larbert and Auldcathy were given to Walter Fitz Gilbert, an ancestor of the Hamilton family, by Robert the Bruce in 1323.HMC 11th Report and Appendix part VI, Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 3, 12-13. A charter of 1474 mentions the castle of "Kynneil called Craig Lyown", lands to be reclaimed from the sea, and saltpans which added to the estate income.HMC Hamilton (London, 1887), p. 19: Register of the Great Seal, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1882), no. 1177. The Castle of Lyon may have been near the sea at Snab Brae, and is remembered by the name of Castleloan housing estate.Salmon, Thomas, James, Borrowstouness & District (1913), p. 458, is mistaken in attributing the name to "Lyon of Glamis" of a later date. ("Loan", usually "lane", may here be derived from "Lyon.") There was a deer park at Kinneil from an early date, and in November 1503 James IV sent a man to bring deer nets from Kinneil to Falkland Palace.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1500-1504, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 407. James IV came to Kinniel in July 1508 to see Lord Hamilton's horses.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 131.
Parts of an older castle, which replaced the castle at the Snab may be incorporated in the present building. James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran died at Kinneil in 1529, but wished to be buried at Hamilton.HMC Hamilton (London, 1887), pp. 52-3. The presence of the former parish church close to the west of the palace across a narrow ravine suggests the early use of the site. The church is now a roofless ruin. The west gable survives. One of its bells, which appears to date from the 15th century, is preserved in the nearby Kinneil Museum and has an incomplete inscription in Lombardic capitals: "EN : KATARINA : VOCOR : VT : PER : ME : VIRGINIS ALME", which may be translated as "Lo, Katherine I am called, that by me of the Blessed Virgin ...". It is supposed that the bell was one of a pair and the inscription continued on the other.Salmon (1913), pp. 48-50J. M. Mackinlay, Ancient Church Dedications in Scotland: Non-scriptural Dedications, Volume 2 (D. Douglas, 1914), p. 423 A large stone cross from the church is kept with the palace.
Regent Arran
The east wing of the surviving building, and perhaps the earlier tower with wide-mouthed gunloops, was built by James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran (c.1516–1575). He was the Governor or Regent of Scotland on the death of James V of Scotland. Coal was shipped from Kinneil to Leith for Edinburgh Castle, and timber for repairing Arran's chamber at "Craig Lyon" came from Leith in May 1545.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), 371, 372. Arran's wife, Margaret Douglas, came to Kinneil in December 1546. Arran visited and stayed with her in February 1547.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 42: National Records of Scotland, House book, E31/9. The household books call the house "Kynnele" and also use the old name "Craig Lyon".David Hay Fleming and James Beveridge, Register of the Privy Seal: 1542-1548, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. xxxiv, xxxvi.
Some payments for building at Kinneil were recorded in the royal treasurer's accounts; timber for roofing, floors and panelling was sent by boat from Leith in 1549 and 1550 to complete one section.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), pp. 325, 336-7, 443-4. Around this time Friar Mark composed a "History of the Hamiltons" for Regent Arran which connects his heraldry to an incident at Kinneil or "Borough Muir".See external links for a transcript of the National Library of Scotland manuscript, NLS Adv. MSs 34.4.5 ff. 25r-28v.Thomas James Salmon, Borrowstounness and District (Edinburgh: William Hodge, 1913), p. 24
The garden or "yaird" was improved for the Spring of 1553, by planting hedges, marjoram, and lettuce. Trees were brought from Fife and Strathearn.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 127, 144-5, 155, 160, 168, 174. In September 1553, Arran gave a gift of 44 shillings to masons laying the foundation stones of another part of the Palace.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 206–207. One of the masons was Thomas Bargany, who was given tips called "drinksilver" and a bonus of £12 Scots to buy clothes.Melanie Schuessler Bond, Dressing the Scottish Court 1543-1553: Clothing in the Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland (Boydell, 2019), p. 589. The well for the house or castle is now concealed under the floor of the east wing. At this time John Scrimgeour of Myres was royal master of work or architect, while Dean John Sclater was master of work at Hamilton and possibly Arran's other houses.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), pp. 206, 207, 211.
The 16th-century painted interior decoration and a stone armorial carry Arran's ducal coronet, and the collar of the Order of Saint Michael, French honours he received in 1548.Duncan Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990 (Mainstream, 1990), p. 36. An armorial stone has the Hamilton motto, the woodsman's cry, "Through!", and the arms of his wife, Margaret Douglas, with her motto "Lock Sickar", meaning secure or steadfast. The stone was formerly set on the north pavilion of the main block, and is now displayed with other carved stones in a cellar. One of the painted rooms has decoration that evokes verdure tapestry with vignettes of Samson and Delilah, Abraham and Isaac, and David and Bathsheba and The Temptation of St. Anthony; this vaulted room is now called the Arbour Room. The other room has scenes from the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Lucretia, Saint Jerome and Mary Magdalene. The original use of this suite of rooms is unknown, although they were probably the principal bed chambers. The name of the painter seems be unrecorded, and it has been suggested a French painter in Edinburgh, Guillaume, was involved. The subjects of these paintings allude to the Power of Women, perhaps a political reference to Mary of Guise, Mary Queen of Scots and the two Tudor Queens of England.
The house was empty on 4 February 1560 when French troops led by d'Oysel attacked and burnt it.Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 310, 313. In 1562 James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell came to Kinneil to make his peace with James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran. It was said that Bothwell proposed they kidnap Mary, Queen of Scots and imprison her in Dumbarton Castle and kill her half-brother Lord James Stewart and her secretary William Maitland of Lethington. A few day later, on Easter Day, the Earl of Arran, who suffered from mental ill health, escaped from his worried father and bedchamber at Kinneil using sheets as a rope.Robert Kerr Hannay, "The Earl of Arran and Queen Mary", Scottish Historical Review, 18 (Glasgow, 1921), p. 274. The drop was 30 fathoms. He made his way to Falkland Palace to speak with the queen and reveal the plot. Some, like William Douglas of Lochleven, thought he was motivated by his friendship for Lord James.Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 613, 616: Memoir of William Douglas of Lochleven, National Records of Scotland GD150/2234. The incident was described in a chronicle: "And upon the xxix of Merche 1562, my lord of Arrane came furth of the palice of Kynneill, on ane fransy in the nycht, at ane heich wyndo, and past to the quenis grace at Falkland".Thomas Thomson, Diurnal of Occurrents (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 71.
After the Battle of Corrichie in October 1562, Arran's father, the Duke of Châtellerault was the reluctant keeper of George Gordon at Kinneil, the forfeited heir of the Earl of Huntly.Joseph Bain, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 668.
James VI of Scotland Regent Lennox damaged the house in May 1570 with gunpowder and spoiled the lands after the assassination of Regent Moray at Linlithgow by a Hamilton.CSP Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), 193, 437, 454. Lennox was assisted by an English force commanded by William Drury and they also burnt houses at Pardovan, Binny, and Kingscavil.Historie of James the Sext (Edinburgh, 1804), p. 95.
James VI reduced the power of the Hamiltons by military force in 1579, and the Duke's wife, Margaret Douglas, and daughter Jean Hamilton, Countess of Eglinton, were brought to Kinneil from Craignethan Castle.CSP Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), 339. In 1581 the king gave their estates and titles to James Stewart. The new Earl gifted a site for a new salt pan at Bo'ness to one of his servants, James Quhyte or White.John Maitland Thomson, Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 142 no. 458. Arran often resided at Kinneil until after his own fall in the autumn of 1585, when he remained at Kinneil under house-arrest, and for a time Kinneil was called Arran House.CSP Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 326. James VI of Scotland stayed in May 1582, to receive an envoy, Signor Paul, sent by the Duke of Guise with a gift of horses and gunpowder. The visit was controversial because Paul was known to have been involved in the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre. (Some sources say Paul was received at Dalkeith Palace)CSP Scotland. vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), nos. 112, 115, 120.
The Earl of Arran's enemies alleged that he and the Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox frequented Kinneil and Dalkeith with their unsuitable companions.Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 407 After the Raid of Ruthven, the Earl of Arran was confined at Kinneil. When the Ruthven regime collapsed, James VI came to banquet at Kinneil with Arran on 11 November 1583.William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), pp. 656-7. On 14 November, Ludovic Stewart son of the King's favourite Esmé Stewart arrived from France at Leith and was taken to Kinneil to meet the King.Moysie, David, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 147. In April 1584 the captive Earl of Gowrie was brought to Kinneil from Edinburgh by Colonel William Stewart. He stayed five days and was then taken to Stirling for trial and beheaded.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1584-1585, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 104.Bannatyne Miscellany, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1827), pp. 91-2