About: Abbotsford House   Sponge Permalink

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In 1811, Sir Walter Scott (at that time just plain Walter Scott because he hadn't been baroneted yet) found that he had far more money than he knew what to do with (he wasn't as brainy as he looked). Well he thought he had. He had written a few poems, had them published, and wasn't short of a few bob. He bought a property known as Cartley Hall, on the bank of the River Tweed near Melrose (which wasn't as posh then as it is now) and renamed it Abbotsford, as the locals had insisted on calling it Clarty Hole.

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  • Abbotsford House
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  • In 1811, Sir Walter Scott (at that time just plain Walter Scott because he hadn't been baroneted yet) found that he had far more money than he knew what to do with (he wasn't as brainy as he looked). Well he thought he had. He had written a few poems, had them published, and wasn't short of a few bob. He bought a property known as Cartley Hall, on the bank of the River Tweed near Melrose (which wasn't as posh then as it is now) and renamed it Abbotsford, as the locals had insisted on calling it Clarty Hole.
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abstract
  • In 1811, Sir Walter Scott (at that time just plain Walter Scott because he hadn't been baroneted yet) found that he had far more money than he knew what to do with (he wasn't as brainy as he looked). Well he thought he had. He had written a few poems, had them published, and wasn't short of a few bob. He bought a property known as Cartley Hall, on the bank of the River Tweed near Melrose (which wasn't as posh then as it is now) and renamed it Abbotsford, as the locals had insisted on calling it Clarty Hole. Moving into the property in 1812, Scott set about pulling down the old farmhouse and having it completely rebuilt from scratch, on a grand scale, partly to emphasize his status as Sheriff of Selkirkshire, and partly to annoy his Iriah wife. Although the architectural style of the house later became known as Scottish Gothic, it was originally conceived by Scott's friends Thomas De Quincy and Oscar Wilde, after a particularly heavy session of substance abuse. Another of Scott's friends, the American author Washington Irving, visited Abbotsford in 1817. He later wrote "Jeezuss, it was flippin' HUGE! And it still isn't finished yet! This bloke must be absolutely ferkin LOADED! Never mind working for a living, I'm going to start writing novels, there's obviously shedloads of money to be made..." Irving's story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was originally set in Melrose, and was inspired by Scott's large collection of celebrity severed heads. Abbotsford House was finally completed in 1824. Scott wanted to make it even bigger, but he'd just realized when his wife's family moved in that money didn't grow on trees after all. Scott's and his wife's family and their descendants lived in the house from 1812 to 2004, and the estate has recently been purchased by a Mr. Williamson, who apparently intends to rename it Arselickingroyalist Toryford if he can avoid the authorities.
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