Queensberry House

In parliament for a short time this morning so took the opportunity to take a photo of Queensberry House with the winter sun shining on it. Like some of my previous blips, this picture has been taken from the MSP block. This picture shows the back of Queensberry House, which overlooks the roof of the Garden Lobby and the parliament's garden and faces towards Salisbury Crags.

The mixing of old and new buildings in the Parliament complex is something I really like as it brings together the history of old Edinburgh and the new parliament.

Queensberry House itself was built in the Canongate in the latter half of the 17th century and is an 'A' listed building. It has been a private home and a hospital but now contains the office of the parliament's Presiding Officer and two Deputy Presiding Officers.

However the most famous resident was probably James Douglas, 2nd Duke of Queensberry who was one of the men behind pushing through the Treaty of Union in 1707. The same evening the 2nd Duke was signing the Act of Union, his son, the insane Earl of Drumlanrig, is said to have roasted a servant boy on a spit in an oven in the kitchens. I have heard this story often, but don't actually know if it's true.