Hamilton Palace was a country house in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It was the seat of the Dukes of Hamilton and is widely acknowledged as having been one of the grandest houses in the British Isles.Hamilton's royal past, South Lanarkshire Council The palace dated from the 14th century, was rebuilt in the Baroque style between 1684 and 1701 and was subsequently much enlarged in the Neoclassical style between 1824 and 1832.
The palace was situated at the centre of the extensive Low Parks (now Strathclyde Country Park), with the Great Avenue, a broad, north–south tree-lined avenue over in length, as its axis. The Low Parks also contained the Hamilton Mausoleum designed by David Hamilton and the 11th-century Netherton Cross. South of the Avon Water, the High Parks (now Chatelherault Country Park) contained the Deer Park and the Chatelherault Hunting Lodge designed by William Adam. The palace housed two libraries and a renowned collection of fine and decorative art which were dispersed in two huge sales in 1882 and 1919.
Hamilton Palace was demolished between 1921 and 1932 after coal works beneath the house were discovered to threaten its structural integrity.Airdrie and Coatbridge Advertiser; Saturday 14 June 1919The Scotsman; Tuesday 11 October 1921Aberdeen Press and Journal; Tuesday 15 November 1921
History 13th-16th centuries The building at the core of Hamilton Palace was a 14th-century tower house known variously as 'The Orchard' or the 'Castle of Hamilton', which was the seat of the Hamilton family. The earliest reference to a castle at Hamilton is in a charter of 1445, when James Hamilton was created first Lord Hamilton. When the palace was demolished in the 1920s, the remains of walls up to thick (compared to elsewhere in the building), were discovered in the north-west quarter, clearly indicating the defensive nature of the medieval core of the palace. In 1451 the medieval parish church of Hamilton (which stood to the east of the later palace) was promoted to collegial status by Lord Hamilton. 'The Orchard' was the object of much destructive attention on the part of royal armies in the period between 1565 and 1579, suffering damage in a siege of 1570 during the Marian civil war due to James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault's support for Mary, Queen of Scots. The castle was damaged again in 1579 on the occasion when Cadzow Castle was destroyed and left abandoned. It accommodated King James VI on a hunting trip in 1589. 'The Orchard' was rebuilt and enlarged in 1591 on a quadrangular plan and named the 'Palace'.
17th-18th centuries
Anne, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton and her husband, William, Duke of Hamilton, commissioned a major rebuilding programme at Hamilton Palace from 1684 to 1701. Dubbed by the Hamilton family as 'The Great Design', these works led to the creation of a U-plan country house, with an open south-facing courtyard which followed the outline of the existing late 16th-century enclosed quadrangle. Under the direction of the architect James Smith, the south quarter of Hamilton Palace was removed entirely, the east and west quarters were rebuilt as courtyard wings, while the north wing was left much as it had been before, although it was refaced and remodelled internally. The south front was rebuilt between 1693 and 1701 in the Baroque style, the principal feature of this new formal ceremonial entrance being the frontispiece with its huge Corinthian portico. Behind the facade of the remodelled north front, the first floor was fully taken up by the Long Gallery, while the first floor of the west wing contained the main suite of ducal apartments.Di Mambro, Rebecca (2012). "James Smith at Hamilton: a Study in Scottish Classicism" in Architectural History Vol. 55 (2012), pp. 111-143
A new north front had been planned by James, 5th Duke of Hamilton in the 1730s, and extensive plans were prepared by William Adam. The Duke's early death and the significant costs involved prevented the plans from being executed, but significant programme of interior decoration was carried out in the east wing of the palace under Adam's supervision. Modifications and additions continued during the next century, including the purchase or exchange of land surrounding the palace, enabling extensive landscaping to take place.
19th century
Upon his succession to the ducal title and estates in 1819, Alexander, 10th Duke of Hamilton began to enhance and enlarge the north front of Hamilton Palace, using the vast wealth that the family derived from their ownership of the Lanarkshire coalfields. The Duke wanted to erect a grand residence which not only reflected the increasing wealth and national standing of the family but also provided an appropriately grand setting for the considerable art collections which he continued to gather, including the Beckford art collection and library that his wife Susan had inherited from her father William Thomas Beckford. This refurbishment included heraldic carvings in the main pediment over the entrance, carved by John Greenshields in 1822. Between 1824 and 1832 the north front itself was enhanced and enlarged by the distinguished Glasgow architect David Hamilton. The 15-bayed, three storey north front was long and high, adorned with a colossal portico of six Corinthian columns. In addition to existing rooms such as the Long Gallery, Old Dining Room, Old State Breakfast Room, Old State Drawing Room and Old State Bedroom, new state rooms such as the Egyptian Hall, Entrance Hall, Tribune, Billiard Room, Charter Room, State Dining Room, Drawing Room, State Bedroom, Music Room, the Hamilton Library and the Beckford Library were built. These held much fine furniture and by the mid-19th century housed one of the best private collections of paintings in Scotland, including works by Peter Paul Rubens (see below), Titian, Anthony van Dyck, and other masters. A sumptuous chimneypiece by William Morgan adorned the Dining Room's fireplace.
The new palace provided an appropriate setting for a number of magnificent social events: in 1831 it was visited by Marie Thérèse of France, the eldest child of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, while in 1843 Henri, Count of Chambord visited the palace and a grand reception was held there following the marriage of the future 11th Duke to Princess Marie Amelie of Baden. In 1851 the palace was visited by Victoria, Duchess of Kent (the mother of Queen Victoria), and in 1860, a great crowd gathered in the park to catch a glimpse of the visiting French empress Eugénie. A grand ball was held at the palace in her honour.Glasgow Herald; Wednesday 21 November 1860
After his marriage in 1843, William, 11th Duke of Hamilton lived chiefly in France and Germany, took little interest in his Scottish or English affairs and never attended the House of Lords. His son, William, 12th Duke of Hamilton, took a great interest in horse racing, gambling and sailing. He disliked Hamilton Palace and resided at Brodick Castle on the Isle of Arran and, after his marriage to Lady Mary Montagu, the eldest daughter of the 7th Duke of Manchester, in December 1873, he developed Easton Park in Suffolk (which had been inherited by the 10th Duke in 1830) as his principal seat and sporting estate. It was closer to the major race courses and also meant that he could base his steam yacht Thistle at Ipswich, from where he could sail to Brodick Castle, Cowes and racecourse venues on the continent.
Hamilton Palace was visited in January 1878 by Edward, Prince of Wales, Napoléon, Prince Imperial and Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria for game shooting in the High Parks, with their visit concluding with a grand ball with 400 guests.Glasgow Herald; Monday 14 January 1878The Scotsman; Tuesday 15 January 1878 By the later 19th century, Hamilton Palace was proving expensive to maintain, and was used only as an occasional residence by the Hamilton family. The programmes of rebuilding and art collecting on the part of the 10th Duke and his successors had left a heavy burden of debt on the estate. The 12th Duke of Hamilton spent a fortune on horses, increasing the Hamiltons’ debts to around £1.5 million. The 12th Duke was only saved from financial ruin when his race horse Cortolvin won the 1867 Grand National horse race, with the substantial prize money and the £16,000 from the bookmakers restoring his fortune substantially. However, in order to fund his continued extravagancies, in 1882 the Duke was forced to sell the Beckford art collection, Beckford Library, and Hamilton Library housed in Hamilton Palace. The Hamilton Palace Sale at Christie's in London took place from 17 June to 20 July 1882 and involved the sale of some 2,213 articles.The Scotsman; Tuesday 18 July 1882Glasgow Herald; Thursday 20 July 1882Greenock Advertiser; Friday 21 July 1882 The sale included paintings by Dürer, Rembrandt, Rubens, Velázquez and van Dyck; Chinese, Japanese, Meissen, Sèvres and English porcelain; bronzes, furniture, tapestries, chandeliers, busts, and vases. The sale raised almost £397,562 and, when added to the sale of the libraries, realized £786,847, .
Decline
The 12th Duke died at Algiers in 1895. He owned in Scotland and England (worth an estimated annual income of £147,000 - £118 million as of 2023), but still had debts of £1.5 million. The Duke's trust disposition and settlement conveyed his estate to trustees and left detailed instructions for the administration of his estate, which comprised the Hamilton Estates (in Lanarkshire, including Hamilton Palace); the Arran Estate (Brodick Castle and the greater part of the Isle of Arran); the Kinneil Estates (in Stirlingshire, including Kinneil House) and the Easton Estate and the Great Glemham Estate in Suffolk. The Duke's only child was his ten-year-old daughter, Lady Mary Hamilton, so the title of 13th Duke of Hamilton passed to his fourth cousin, Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, a poor Royal Navy lieutenant.
The 12th Duke's trustees were given power to sell the Glemham Estate and apply the proceeds, and that of some moveable property (including the Duke's yacht), towards paying off the debts on the Easton Estate. The Arran and Easton Estates, along with their income, passed to Lady Mary and her descendants, while the Hamilton and Kinneil Estates passed to the 13th Duke, who took on over £1 million in debts, which took him until July 1908 to pay off. The trust disposition and settlement of the 12th Duke also stated: "with reference to Hamilton Palace, which is not now used by me as a place of residence, that it shall be in the power of my said trustees if they, in their sole discretion, shall think it advisable to do so, to entirely displenish and dismantle the palace, and take down and remove the building, or allow the same to fall into disuse". In 1889 the 12th Duke had leased to the Bent Colliery Company (who owned the Hamilton Palace Colliery at nearby Bothwellhaugh), the coal under the Low Parks, to be worked on a system, known as the 'stoop and room' method, which would have left Hamilton Palace and the nearby Mausoleum supported by the pillars of coal known as stoops.