7 Feb 2023

Keeping house at Gladstone’s Land

Written by Lesley Scott, Conservation Advisor (Edinburgh & East)

A re-constructed 17th-century bedroom, with a four-poster bed complete with heavy fabric hangings. The wooden ceiling has an original painted decoration. The walls are mustard yellow and the room is lit by the window to the right.

Interior view of the Painted Chamber at Gladstone’s Land

Gladstone’s Land’s historic spaces have recently been reimagined, offering visitors immersive experiences of how people once lived in this property. This has resulted in a development of how we best preserve, retain and interpret the objects and interiors here.

At Gladstone’s Land, a 17th-century townhouse in Edinburgh’s Lawnmarket, we have been sharing the stories of its former inhabitants since the property re-opened in 2021 after a major refurbishment. It now offers a hands-on and multi-sensory experience, where visitors are able to see, feel, touch, smell and interact with items similar to those that people would have used when they lived and worked in the property, from the early 1600s to the early 20th century. The house has period-appropriate objects and furniture as well as a few collection items, all displayed within the surviving historic interiors.

View of Gladstone’s Land from an angled perspective, looking up at all the floors that make up the 17th-century townhouse

The front of Gladstone’s Land, seen from the Royal Mile

Changing rooms

At the National Trust for Scotland, we are constantly thinking about how best to tell the stories of the people who lived at our places. This winter, Edinburgh & East Regional Curator Dr Antonia Laurence Allen has been focusing on the storeroom at Gladstone’s Land. Working with a student, Anna, Antonia has collated research on Issobell Johnstone, a woman employed by John Riddoch in the 17th century to run his tavern in the basement of the tenement. Currently, the room is displayed as Riddoch’s Storeroom in 1631 and is filled with the spices that we know he sold from his shop on the High Street.

Antonia commented: ‘This year we will be adding a tavern sign, as well as bed blankets and small personal items like a pipe and some coins, ale jugs and pewter plates. These will highlight the contrast between Riddoch’s opulently decorated living space and Issobell’s small working, sleeping and eating area, which also served as a storeroom.’

The 18th-century crewel work panel (seen hanging above the fireplace) has been returned to Falkland Palace after some preventive quarantine treatment for moths (an ongoing issue for historic properties) – this is best practice when moving items between properties. A replica panel inspired by the crewel work and made by the Falkland volunteer sewing group will be hung in the Painted Chamber in its place.

Interior image of a storeroom, with a fireplace with a crewel work panel hanging above. There is wooden furniture on the left and right of the fireplace. Hessian bags and ceramic flaggons stand on the floor either side of the fireplace.

The Storeroom at Gladstone’s Land

The painted panel seen below came from the Edinburgh workshop of James Norie (1711–36) who, with his two sons James and Robert, made their name as decorative landscape painters. Other paintings by the Norie family can be seen at nearby Newhailes. This panel is not original to Gladstone’s Land, but it has been in the Trust’s care since 2008 and is original to Edinburgh’s Old Town. It is a painting that traditionally hung over a fireplace; in large houses (as at Newhailes) it hung over a door. We have relocated it over the fireplace in the Draper’s Shop, the room displaying Mrs Elizabeth Pillans’ and her husband William Dawson’s business, which operated from here in 1761.

Two other portraits were moved from above the fireplace to accommodate the Norie panel. Lady Teresa Shirley, wearing an embroidered gown with a lace trim collar, had her portrait painted sometime between 1611 and 1613 by English painter William Larkin, when she was in the country to give birth to her son Henry. We had originally hung her portrait in the Draper’s Shop because the detail of her clothing would have certainly been inspiring for customers thinking of purchasing fine cloth for a new dress. If you look closely, there are honeysuckle vines and strawberries in the design. Lady Teresa’s portrait can now be viewed downstairs, in John Riddoch and Margaret Noble’s grand room, which is set as it would have looked in the 1630s.

The other portrait is of a fine lady, Elizabeth Graham of Airth. She now has pride of place in the Draper’s Shop, looking over the cutting table. A life-size model of her can also be found in the café area downstairs.

We moved these paintings with the help of an expert art handler, which allowed us to condition check the reverse and fittings. To ensure we were sympathetic to the interior walls and their preservation whilst securing the painting to the wall, we sought advice from our regional architect.

A painted panel depicting a scene of old Edinburgh in the 1700s.

Two gilt-framed oil paintings with a portrait of one woman facing left in each one. They are mounted against a blue painted wall, with historic painted wooden beams above.

Three National Trust for Scotland staff members dressed in period clothing sit at a table in a café, having tea with a life-size model of a 17th-century woman.

How we keep house

The Trust champions high standards of preventive practices in our Collections Care policies – we strive to maintain stable environments to look after our interiors and the collection items within them. This involves regular monitoring, checks and maintaining dust- and pest-free rooms and spaces, so we can make informed decisions about we use the collections and how best to preserve them for the long term.

Although the paintings at Gladstone’s Land are not handled, the objects and furniture are, so our annual deep clean is really important as we also check for damage and wear. At this time, we clean and undertake any necessary repairs, or apply protective finishes to protect the furniture under the Regional Conservator’s guidance.

Two women on their knees roll up a rug in a historic room setting. There are small ladders on the right.

Detail of a woman’s hands sewing webbing to the edge of a carpet.

Two women wearing dust masks in torchlight bend over a writing desk, checking veneers to reattach using glue. Tools can be seen in the middle of the picture.

The deep clean is no mean feat. The Edinburgh Collections Care staff and dedicated Collections Volunteers start at the top of the house – dusting every item; vacuuming inside drawers and in fireplaces; and carefully moving every item to ensure no space is left unchecked for dust, pests or damage. Whilst undertaking these tasks, there is the opportunity for training and upskilling of staff and volunteers. The Regional Visitor Services Supervisor in Collections Care and the Regional Conservator share best-practice processes in caring for historical material and how we should maintain those items that are regularly handled.

The historic painted ceilings will have a health check later in the year by a conservator specialising in painted decorative schemes. As most of the deep clean work is now completed this year, we can continue with those tasks identified during our winter deep clean, such as repairing broken handling items, rotating the collections on displays to minimise light damage, or seeking specialist help for more complex treatments.

Visitor Services Assistant Leia said: ‘My role involves checking and monitoring the environment and maintaining low levels of dust, gathering data on any pests of concern that are present in the building, and engaging visitors as they walk through the historic interiors of Gladstone’s Land.’

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“Through caring for the objects and interiors, I love that visitors to Gladstone’s Land are able to have a really immersive experience of the property.”

Leia Caldwell

Visitor Services Assistant