About Whitehill
The industrial history of East Lothian and Clackmannanshire is marked by historical events and individual decisions. The Wardlaw Ramsay papers chart the progress of a local family from the 17th to 19th century and provide insights into the difficulties and solutions that accompanied the development of industry and coal mining in these regions and around Edinburgh.
Personal ambitions were defined by the opportunities that presented in each generation – a baronetage, a place in Parliament, a lucrative position, inheritance, marriage, an opportunity to serve in the East India Company, or the army.
The Wardlaw Ramsays’ association with Whitehill dates back to the middle ages, when the estate was centered around the medieval house, features of which survived to the 19th century. Successive generations invested in salt-pans, potteries, agriculture, and mining. Younger brothers and wives would sometimes manage these concerns; the women travelled to Holland to do business or place their sons with teachers.
By the 19th century, coal mining had become the dominant industrial concern; the family built a village and church for Italian miners in Rosewell, and lived at Whitehill, which was rebuilt in the 1840s in lavish Renaissance style.
The coal brought astonishing wealth to a family whose members were enthusiastic supporters of the Temperance Society and showed a lively interest in the arts and the Charlotte Chapel. Whitehill house was filled with Italian art.
However, the price of coal collapsed in the 1850s, and Robert Balfour Wardlaw Ramsay narrowly avoided bankruptcy by selling his coal mines and every painting of note. The family went to live in Paris for a couple of years, before returning to Whitehill. The house was let in the 1860s after which the family simply moved around the United Kingdom, renting houses in different places for their growing children. They used Whitehill for family events, notably marriages.
The last farms were sold in the 1940s, by which time entails could no longer be enforced in law; the last male family member developed a keen interest in genealogy and made sure the Wardlaw Ramsay archive was donated to the Scottish National Archives.
Arthur Wardlaw Ramsay also preserved the family portraits. These, when presented along with objects that belonged to each individual, such as sketch books, albums, memoirs, dressing table sets, miniatures, maps, etc. and accompanied by narratives explaining the economic background to each portrait, constitute an engaging and informative historical resource.
This project aims to distil information contained in the Wardlaw Ramsay archive with a view to creating an accessible account of the early industrial development of the landscape around Edinburgh. We invite contributions relating to the former Whitehill estate, from local historians, and residents with an interest in the industrial archaeology of the area.
