‘How do we make Scott more popular?’ The question ran round the table and none of us had an answer.
‘How do we make Scott more popular?’ The question ran round the table and none of us had an answer. It was a meeting of the Abbotsford Trust. I am not myself a trustee, but was there as a member of an advisory committee. The Trust itself was set up after the death of Dame Jean Maxwell-Scott, Sir Walter’s great-great-great-granddaughter who, with her late sister, Patricia, had owned Abbotsford for many years and had made it the happiest and most welcoming of houses.
Scott bought it in 1812. It was then a small farmhouse called Cartley (or perhaps Clarty) Hole, and Scott bought it to comply with the requirement that as Sheriff of Selkirkshire he should have a residence in his Sheriffdom. But he soon started building, and the east wing of the present house is not only his work, but in its semi-Gothic appearance, furnishings and magpie collections reflects his extraordinary character. (The other wing was built by his granddaughter and her husband Sir James Hope-Scott and includes the charming little Catholic chapel where Cardinal Newman celebrated Mass and preached.)
Abbotsford attracted hosts of visitors even in Scott’s lifetime — he insisted that the grounds should be open to anyone — and it became a place of literary pilgrimage almost immediately after his death, all the more so when the railway, suitably known as the Waverley Line, opened up the Borders to tourism. Patricia and Jean looked after the house and small estate with loving care, and 30 years or so ago received some 75,000 visitors every year. That number has now fallen to around 25,000, and the Abbotsford Trustees recognise that investment is necessary if Abbotsford is to be preserved both as it should be, and in a manner attractive to people today.
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