Lockerbie - Lockerbie House

Lockerbie House

Lockerbie House was built in 1814 for Sir William Douglas, 4th Baronet of Kelhead and Dame Grace Johnstone and their children; Mary, Henry Alexander, William Robert Keith Douglas, Charles Douglas, 6th Marquess of Queensberry and John Douglas, 7th Marquess of Queensberry. It was inhabited at one time by several different members of the Douglas family through the generations. Such family members include both Archibald Douglas, 8th Marquis of Queensberry PC (son of John Douglas) and his wife Caroline Margaret Clayton (daughter of General Sir William Robert Clayton MP) and their children British mountaineer Lord Francis William Bouverie Douglas, Lady Gertrude Georgiana Douglas, John Sholto Douglas, Viscount Drumlanrig and later the 9th Marquess of Queensberry, Clergyman Lord Archibald Edward Douglas and the twins Lord James Douglas and Lady Florence Dixie (who married Sir Alexander Beaumont Churchill Dixie, 11th Baronet.) John Sholto Douglas was a patron of sport and a noted boxing enthusiast. In 1866 he was one of the founders of the Amateur Athletic Club, now the Amateur Athletic Association of England. The following year the club published a set of twelve rules for conducting boxing matches. The rules had been drawn up by John Graham Chambers but appeared under Queensberry's sponsorship and are universally known as the "Marquess of Queensberry rules". It is thought that such rules were created within the compounds of Lockerbie House, possibly within the room now known as "The Queensbury Dining Room". It is also thought that at one point Oscar Wilde may have also stayed here for a short amount of time due to his affair with John Sholto Douglas's son the author and poet Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas.

Lockerbie House is an important establishment within Lockerbie, in the past having owned most of the land and housing within the town mainly through the Johnstone Baronets and Douglas family. Like much of Lockerbie this Georgian house is built of old red sandstone and contains approx. 40 bedrooms, situated within 78 acres (320,000 m2) of secluded woodland and gardens, several outbuildings including a gatehouse, a 2-acre (8,100 m2) walled garden, croquet lawn, orchards, helipad and a hunting dog pen. The property up until recently also possessed a large stable block but that has since been partly converted into a house with the remaining stables used by a local riding school. Due to the vast size of the property it has frequently been used as a county house hotel in order to help pay for its maintenance and/or provide a prosperous business. The house is now owned by outdoor pursuits company Manor Adventure, and serves as a centre for school activity courses and family adventure holidays.