THE WELL & WASH HOUSE, SCOTLANDWELL
Scotlandwell is one of the great historic sites of Kinross-shire. Named
Fons Scotiae by the Romans who passed this way nearly 2,000 years ago,
the
curative waters that bubble up through the sandy ground were used by
Red
Friars who maintained a hospital in the village between 1250 and 1587.
Thousands of pilgrims came to Scotlandwell to take the water, the most
famous perhaps being King Robert the Bruce who is alleged to have found
a
cure for leprosy here.
The people of Scotlandwell are rightly concerned about the state of
the historic well and nearby wash house which are both urgently in
need of upkeep and repair. While the well itself needs a good clean
out and minor structural attention, the wash house is an
architectural gem that is fast deteriorating. With a view to
rescuing the wash house and putting it to some use Portmoak Community
Council has approached the District Council which fell heir to these
unusual buildings in the 1920's.
The building of the ornamental well and wash house in Scotlandwell
in more
recent times was undertaken as part of a general scheme of village
improvement
carried out between 1857 and 1860 by Thomas Bruce of Arnot. A direct
descendent of Sir William Bruce, the architect of Kinross House,
Thomas Bruce was the feudal superior of the old Barony of Arnot which
included the village of Scotlandwell as its principal settlement.
In 1822 a small piece of common ground, situated by the main street
and known locally as the Peat Hill, was divided up amongst the feuars
of the village. Thomas Bruce of Arnot, who eventually acquired all
of this land, decided to beautify the village by landscaping the site
where the villagers of Scotlandwell had formerly stacked their peat.
The spot where the well now stands was then described as being "an
almost unapproachable slough of mire and filth" beside which stood
"a
half ruinous building used sometimes as a washing house and sometimes
as a slaughter house."
In March 1857 the plan for an ornamental fountain or well was
prepared by the distinguished Edinburgh architect David Bryce
(1803-76). Best known for his large scale "Scottish Baronial"
buildings which include Fettes College and the Royal Infirmary in
Edinburgh, Bruce designed not only the well but also the stylish wash
house opposite.
Using stone from quarries at Greenhead of Arnot and Nivingston near
Cleish, the well was completed in 1858 at a cost of œ154. The death
of Thomas Bruce of Arnot's wife Henrietta during the building of the
well turned the project into both a labour of love and a memorial.
On either side of the water spout in front of the well are the
embossed initials TBA for Thomas Bruce of Arnot and HD for his wife,
Henrietta Dorin.
The village improvement scheme, which also included the upgrading of
many cottages, was completed in 1860 with the building of the wash
house at a cost of œ117. In addition to land being cleared to create
a bleachfield, an ornamental garden with exotic trees was laid out
for the benefit of villagers between the wash house and the main
street. For many years a tea room stood on this site.
The wash house bears not only the date 1860 but also the initials TBA
for Thomas Bruce of Arnot who commented on the whole scheme once the
well and wash house had been completed:
"The improvement of the village and of its "Well" has cost me
more money than some might perhaps say I aught to have
expended upon them, but it has been a subject of great
interest to me and I have been far more than repaid in one
way at least by the gratification it has afforded to the
villagers by a desire for whose moral improvement it was that
I was mainly actuated in what I did and am still doing."
Two years after the death of the distinguished diplomat Sir Charles
Bruce of Arnot in 1922, the well, wash house, garden and bleachfield
were handed over to the people of Scotlandwell as a gift.
Thereafter, the site and its historic buildings were maintained by
the local Parish Council whose powers were eventually devolved to
Kinross County Council.
The Kinross-shire Civic Trust hopes that
this unusual example of 19th century village amenity will not be
allowed to fall into disrepair.
Sources:
Scottish Record Office, Bruce of Arnot Papers (GD 242)
Plan of Division of Scotlandwell Peat Hill Ebenezer Birrell, surveyor
1821, (Kinross-shire Antiquarian Society)
Rev. J.P.J. Gordon The Ecclesiastical Chronicle for Scotland, Glasgow,
1875
D.Mackenzie Munro 'The Red Friars of Scotlandwell' in the Kinross
Advertiser, 30 Aug. 1969 |
