Queensberry House
- This article is about the Queensberry House in Edinburgh. For the Queensberry House in London, see 7 Burlington Gardens.
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Queensberry House is a 17th-century Category A listed building in the Canongate, Edinburgh, Scotland, incorporated into the Scottish Parliament complex. It contains the office of the Presiding Officer, two Deputy Presiding Officers, the Parliament's Chief Executive, and other staff.
The mansion house was built in c. 1667 for Dame Margaret Douglas of Balmakellie, and bought by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry in c. 1689. The current structure was likely re-modelled as a Georgian home in the 18th Century.
The most famous resident is probably James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry who was influential behind the Treaty of Union in 1707.
From 1803 to 1996 the building was used as a hospital. This included a period during the 1830s cholera epidemic when it was specifically used as a cholera hospital.[1]
Ian Rankin's Inspector Rebus novel Set in Darkness, first published in 2000 is partly set in Queensberry House during the reconstruction for the new parliament building.
Ghost
The building is famously said to be haunted by the kitchen boy roasted and eaten by James Douglas, the mad Earl of Drumlanrig, in 1707.[2][3]
References
- ↑ BIOGRAPHICAL INDEX OF FORMER FELLOWS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH 1783 – 2002 (PDF). The Royal Society of Edinburgh. July 2006. ISBN 0 902 198 84 X.
- ↑ "Why you've more than a ghost of a chance of seeing a spook". The Scotsman. 8 November 2004. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
- ↑ "Edinburgh-Royal Mile History The Canongate". Royalmile.com. Retrieved 2011-11-21.
External links
Coordinates: 55°57′07″N 3°10′33″W / 55.9520°N 3.1759°W