Skip to content
Home
Favourites
0
Advanced search
Shopping cart
0
Register
Log in
Images of Edinburgh
Browse map
Area A - Z
Browse by date
Exhibitions
Current exhibition
All exhibitions
Collections
About the collections
Browse by theme
Subject A - Z
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries
Images of Edinburgh
Browse map
Area A - Z
Browse by date
Exhibitions
Current exhibition
All exhibitions
Collections
About the collections
Browse by theme
Subject A - Z
Subject matches "Gardens" or its children
Back to search results
Queen Mary's gardener's house
Skene, James, 1819, Watercolour
Item
of 956
Queen Mary's gardener's house
Queen Mary's gardener's house
Add to favourites
Share
Item record
About this image
Related
Location
Category
Library Item
Item no
1111
Title
Queen Mary's gardener's house
Artist / maker
Skene, James
Date
1819
Size
22 x 15 cm.
Type
Watercolour
Location
Edinburgh and Scottish Collection
This sixteenth century pavilion, known variously as Queen Mary's Gardener's House and Queen Mary's Bathhouse, stands in Abbey Hill on the north-western perimeter of Holyrood Palace. An ancient tradition, later recalled in 18th century verse, suggests it was here that Mary Queen of Scots "bathed in white wine to entertain her loveliness"(1) :
That chamber where the queen, whose charms devine
Made wondering nations own the power of love,
Oft bathed her snowy limbs in sparkling wine,
Now proves a lonely refuge for the dove(2) .
In 1789, during the construction of an adjoining building, an ornamental dagger was discovered in a turret staircase which was being demolished. A perhaps fanciful story associates the dagger with the murder of David Rizzio, private secretary and favourite of Queen Mary, and suggests that the weapon was discarded by one of Rizzio's murderers as he was making a hasty escape through the royal gardens. The neighbouring building, plainly visible in James Skene's watercolour, was demolished in 1852, and the "Bath House" partially restored.
(1) Stevenson, R.L., Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh, First Published 1878, Barnes and Noble 1993, 86
(2) Craigmillar (anon), c 1770, part of a poem reproduced in Grant, James, Old and New Edinburgh, 1882, Vol II, 41
Exhibitions with this item
Other views of this item
Related images
Related subjects
Landscape
>
Landscape architectural facilities
>
Gardens
Places
>
Scotland
>
Edinburgh
Transport
>
Land
>
Horse and carts
More like this
Rights and purchasing
Option
Price
Digital File
Electronic file 72 dpi JPEG
£6.10
(inc. VAT 20%)
Add
Digital File
Electronic File 300 dpi TIFF
£31.00
(inc. VAT 20%)
Add
You can view and use digital images for personal and educational use. For more information, read our
policy on image use
.
If you wish to use our images for commercial use, please
contact us
.
The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries The image library for the collections of Edinburgh Libraries and Museums and Galleries