Bannockburn House Community Buyout

UPDATE: The funds have been raised to buy the house for the community! However we must continue to fundraise to carry out the repair works required to service this magnificent building. This is where we need your continued support.

Huge thanks to our individual donors, and also the Scottish Land Fund and Stirling Council for their grants and support.

Background
Bannockburn House proudly sits on an estate to the edge of the historic town of Bannockburn in central Scotland. 

The house itself has been described by Historic Environment Scotland as being of 'national significance'.  Many important families have occupied Bannockburn House over the years and the building itself, unlived in for 50 years, is like stepping back in time with many features important to Scottish culture, history and heritage.  A home this important needs preserved.  

The chance to do just that has arrived.  The house was placed on the market for sale, and a community led Trust was established to try and secure this vitally important property.  Following months of negotiations, the Trust secured an exclusive right to buy and the funds were secured to buy it.

Bannockburn House is a Scottish asset, important to our culture, history and heritage, here's why...

The families

Bonnie Prince Charlie's bedroom

The house is of local and national importance.  Many families have occupied Bannockburn House over the years including the Rollos, Patersons,  Wilsons and the Mitchells.  Each family  had their own important place in Scottish culture and made their own impact on  the local area and to the historical heritage of Scotland.  As an example, the Wilsons built the world's largest tartan weaving industry in Bannockburn and were responsible for creating the system of naming clan tartans, the names and weaves that are still worn today .  Sir Hugh Paterson and his wife Lady Jean Erskine, sister of the Earl of Mar were owners of the house.  The Earls of Mar were Regents of Scotland and Paterson was a protege of the Earl of Moray.  The family were a strong Jacobite family and the home served as a headquarters for the Jacobites with Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie) himself having stayed there for a while.  It was in this home that  Charlie was nursed by  Clementina Walkinshaw, with whom he became romantically linked and moved with to France where they had their only surviving child, a  daughter.  Whilst many places claim a link to Bonnie Prince Charlie, few places allow visitors to tread the very floor boards where he once walked.

Nationally important features
Believed to be one of just two examples of this ceiling work left in the  UK.

Historic Environment Scotland has given Bannockburn House an A listing and have spoken of its  national importance. However, apart from an onsite caretaker, the house hasn't been lived in for 50 years and has fallen in to disrepair in parts, but it still contains many stunning and magnificent features that hark back to the time when it was a majestic building on a beautifully kept estate. Some of the ceilings in the house are truly magnificent and have been classed as being of international importance, and the grounds are also very impressive.

The gardens were at one time very impressive and the Trust would like to restore them to their former beauty. John Hayes McLaren (1846 - 1943) lived in Bannockburn and started his apprenticeship (aged 14) in the gardens of Bannockburn House having played as a child in the woods belonging to the house.  John Hayes McLaren went on to become a renowned horticulturist and Superintendent of the Golden Gate Park in San Francisco in California, as well as designing Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon.

 

Securing the future of the house through a community charitable trust

A community awoken to lead plans to purchase the home for the people of Scotland

The house and grounds (25 acres) have recently been placed on the market for sale, and a local  Trust was formed to  lead the buyout and preservation of this historic home.  With a multi million pound budget required to preserve and restore the property, only a Community Trust can ensure its future safety by  getting access to funds to carry out the essential work and protect the property for future generations through the home being administered by the community, for the community, and the people of Scotland.  Significant jobs and training opportunties will also be offered.

The funds have been raised to buy the house for the community, but we must continue to fundraise to carry out the repair works required to service this magnificent building. This is where we need your continued support.

 


Scotland has lost so many great, historic properties to ruin or unsympathetic development.  We cannot stand by and see this happen to a house like this that has such historic , cultural and important heritage value.

Do please support the Trust to raise the funds we need  to transform this amazing home.  Thank You!

UPDATE: The funds have been raised to buy the house for the community!  However we must continue to fundraise to carry out the repair works required to service this magnificent building. This is where we need your continued support.

Huge thanks to our individual donors, and also the Scottish Land Fund and Stirling Council for their grants and support.