Scots court architecture of the early 17th century: the absentee-court architecture of Sir James Murray of Kilbaberton, William Wallace and their circle, in the early 17th century

Abstract

The proposition is submitted that Sir James Murray of Kilbaberton, who from at least 1607 was Master of the King's Works, was an architect responsible for the design of some buildings in the major series characterised by Winton House or Heriot's Hospital. This necessarily leads to a questioning both of the traditional role of William Wallace as being the foremost architect of his time, as well as of the significance of the Mylne dynasty in this period. It is also argued that this particular 'style' of architecture was but another stage in the ongoing and changing Court architecture of the country, with origins in the earlier national tradition, whilst simultaneously introducing new ideas and providing the basis upon which the following generations were to build. Murray's role as analogous to that of the far better-known Inigo Jones in the southern part of James VI and I's newly-united kingdom is also considered, with brief comparison made between the two; and then a consideration of some buildings representative of the Court architecture of Murray's period in office, buildings both royal and non-royal. Thus, it is submitted that in James Murray, we have one of our more significant, and yet hitherto unrecognised, architects.