Luffness House

Located in woodland adjacent to the A198 road, a half-mile (1 km) southeast of Aberlady, Luffness House is a rambling mansion which was begun around 1584 by Sir Patrick Hepburn on the site of the 13th century Luffness Castle which had been constructed to protect Aberlady Bay, a sheltered landing for ships. This castle was built on the site of a Viking settlement. In 1549, the French had fortified this castle against the English, during the 'Rough Wooing', preventing the English army receiving supplies by sea. The Earl of Hertford insisted the castle was levelled as part of the peace that followed. The Hepburns acquired the land after the Reformation and their three-storey T-plan house was bought by the Hope family in 1739. They added to the house in the early 19th Century and again in 1822, when William Burn (1789 - 1870) was responsible in the Jacobean style. David Bryce (1803-76) began a process of Baronialisation in 1841, with a new wing (which was demolished in 1959), and was completed 1846-9. Bryce returned in 1874 to add an elaborate gun-room wing. A saloon was added in 1891 and a billiard room in 1907.

The parkland to the southwest of the house includes a parterre and a fine walled garden, which was built by French prisoners captured during the Napoleonic Wars, and remains in use.

Nearby is Myreton Motor Museum.


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