Editing Walter Scott (section)

==Abbotsford House==
[[File:Abbotsford04.jpg|thumb|[[Abbotsford House]]]]
[[File:The Tomb of Sir W. Scott, in Dryburgh Abbey by Henry Fox Talbot.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Tomb of Walter Scott, in Dryburgh Abbey, photo by [[Henry Fox Talbot]], 1844]]
[[File:The Abbotsford Family by Sir David Wilkie.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|''The Abbotsford Family'' by Sir David Wilkie, 1817, depicting Scott and his family dressed as country folk, with his wife and two daughters dressed as milkmaids]]
When Scott was a boy, he sometimes travelled with his father from Selkirk to Melrose, where some of his novels are set. At a certain spot, the old gentleman would stop the carriage and take his son to a stone on the site of the [[Battle of Melrose]] (1526).<ref>[[#CITEREFLockhart1852|Lockhart]], p. 397</ref>

During the summers from 1804, Scott made his home at the large house of Ashestiel, on the south bank of the River Tweed, {{convert|6|mi|km}} north of Selkirk. When his lease on this property expired in 1811, he bought Cartley Hole Farm, downstream on the Tweed nearer Melrose. The farm had the nickname of "[[wikt:clarty|Clarty]] Hole", and Scott renamed it "Abbotsford" after a neighbouring ford used by the monks of [[Melrose Abbey]].<ref name=scottsabbotsford>{{Cite web|url=https://www.scottsabbotsford.com/|title=Abbotsford – The Home of Sir Walter Scott|website=www.scottsabbotsford.com|access-date=26 August 2019}}</ref> Following a modest enlargement of the original farmhouse in 1811–12, massive expansions took place in 1816–19 and 1822–24. Scott described the resulting building as 'a sort of romance in Architecture'<ref>Grierson, ''op. cit.'', 8.129: Scott to John Richardson, [November–December 1823].</ref> and 'a kind of Conundrum Castle to be sure'.<ref>''The Journal of Sir Walter Scott'', ed. W. E. K. Anderson (Oxford, 1972), 11: 7 January 1828.</ref> With his architects [[William Atkinson (architect)|William Atkinson]] and [[Edward Blore]] Scott was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style of architecture, and Abbotsford is festooned with turrets and stepped gabling. Through windows enriched with the insignia of heraldry the sun shone on suits of armour, trophies of the chase, a library of more than 9,000 volumes, fine furniture, and still finer pictures. Panelling of oak and cedar and carved ceilings relieved by coats of arms in their correct colours added to the beauty of the house.<ref name=scottsabbotsford />{{verify source|date=July 2013}}

It is estimated that the building cost Scott more than £25,000 ({{Inflation|UK|25000|1825|r=-5|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). More land was purchased until Scott owned nearly {{convert|1000|acre|km2}}. In 1817 as part of the land purchases Scott bought the nearby mansion-house of Toftfield for his friend Adam Ferguson to live in along with his brothers and sisters and on which, at the ladies' request, he bestowed the name of Huntlyburn.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/200348630-huntlyburn-with-walled-garden-and-bothy-former-stables-cottage-and-mounting-block-leaderdale-and-melrose-ward |publisher=British Listed Buildings|title= Huntlyburn; statement of interest|access-date=7 August 2018}}</ref> Ferguson commissioned [[David Wilkie (artist)|Sir David Wilkie]] to paint the Scott family<ref>McCunn, Florence (1910) ''Sir Walter Scott's friends''. New York : John Lane Co. p. 329</ref> resulting in the painting ''The Abbotsford Family''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/8202/abbotsford-family |title=The Abbotsford Family|publisher=National Gallery|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref> in which Scott is seated with his family represented as a group of country folk. [[Adam Ferguson (British Army officer)|Ferguson]] is standing to the right with the feather in his cap and Thomas Scott, Scott's Uncle,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/thomas-scott-17311823-uncle-of-sir-walter-scott-208654|title=Thomas Scott (1731–1823), Uncle of Sir Walter Scott|website=Art UK|access-date=26 August 2019}}</ref> is behind.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://images.is.ed.ac.uk/luna/servlet/detail/UoEwal~1~1~69351~101043|title=The Abbotsford Family – Walter Scott Image Collection|website=images.is.ed.ac.uk}}</ref> The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1818.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://digital.nls.uk/histories-of-scottish-families/archive/95326355#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=15&xywh=-455%2C1682%2C3308%2C2452 |title=Douglas David 1895 Records of The Clan Ferguson|page=x|access-date=4 August 2018}}</ref>

Abbotsford later gave its name to the [[Abbotsford Club]], founded in 1834 in memory of Sir Walter Scott.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/oxfordcompaniont00drab_958|title=The Oxford companion to English literature|last=Drabble|first=Margaret|date=2000|publisher=New York : Oxford University Press|edition=6th|pages=1|isbn=978-0-19-866244-0}}</ref>