The Great Hall
Family of William Marquis of LothianThe major addition to the house in 1962-3 was this large hall which was conceived of as a general place of assembly and focus for the house, and as a gallery for the display of the larger family pictures from Newbattle Abbey. More recently concerts have held here by kind permission of the family. It is entirely a Schomberg Scott design with a Scottish wagon ceiling (inspired by Falkland Palace), the gallery and stairs having a wrought iron balustrade made in Edinburgh. The floor is of African mahogany, a hardwood much used by architects in the 1960s.
Charles IA full-length equestrian portrait of Charles I by Van Dyck dominates the east wall and is a contemporary version of that painted for the gallery at St. James’s, which is now at Buckingham Palace, and was probably a gift from the king to his old tutor Robert 1st Earl of Ancram. The remaining paintings within the Great Hall are family portraits.