TOUCH
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Touch House and its History
The old road from Stirling to Glasgow passed within 200 yards of the front of Touch. It skirted what was until the
middle of the 18th C an impassable swamp. Below Stirling there was no bridge across the Forth and the position of
Stirling and its Castle, commanding the single road to the north was thus crucial. From Roman times, through
those of Sir William Wallace, King Robert the Bruce, to Bonnie Prince Charlie’s in 1745, forces sent from London
have met those from the North to try and gain control of what is rightly called the “Gateway to the Highlands”.
Against this background it is a reasonable assumption that the first building at Touch would have been a tower. It
would have been built of wood, for until the 15th C fortified stone buildings which could be used as a stronghold
were forbidden unless they belonged to the King. The tower which exists today is thought to have been built in the
15th century, and probably built in at least two periods. Originally it would have been larger, and of course had no
windows on the ground floor.
Up to this time the Lairds of Touch were Frasers, and in 1408 it was acquired by the Setons, who were a branch of
the Setons of Abercorn. The Setons extended the house, pulling down part of the tower to make a more substantial
although still fortified house. This was carried out in the 16th c and the top floor on the north side in the 17th c. Of
this period there exist only partial plans, showing a first floor dining room and drawing room, with thick load
bearing walls, but those which were not required to carry any weight – very thin partitions. Dating from this time
is a bedroom on the north side of the first floor, whose pine panelling gives it a feeling of warmth, despite this
comparatively small room’s having no less than 6 doors. On the floor above this is the old library which contains
in the corners of the ceiling four interesting emblematic plaster heads. Heavier and baroque, they are very different
style from the work to be done a hundred years later in the new rooms which were to be built at the front of the
house. The contrast illustrates not only the change in architectural styles, but the transformation from an era when
a defensive structure was a necessity, to the Georgian period when visitors were to be welcomed not repelled.
Hugh Seton would, however have been horrified if he had thought that his new addition would ever be called
“Georgian”, for the Setons were strong Jacobite supporters, and were the Hereditary Armour Bearers for the
Scottish Kings. In 1745 Princes Charles Edward, on his way to the Battle of Prestonpans stayed at Touch on the
night of September 13th 1745. He gave to his host a quaich, a ring and a miniature and General Murray left behind
his dispatch book. These were much treasured by the Setons, and are now held in the safekeeping of an Edinburgh
Museum. Later, fleeing from his Hanoverian pursuers after Culloden, he is said to have found refuge in a cave
under a waterfall in the Touch Glen, for, with Seton’s sympathies well known, the house itself would have been too
dangerous.
Hugh Seton, far from keeping a low profile as might be expected in the circumstances, together with other local
lairds, brought families down from the highlands to start the mammoth task of draining the Carse of Stirling.
Ditches were dug to float the peat which covered this bogland down to the Rover Forth, and eventually out to sea.
In all an area some 60 square miles was reclaimed, and the rich clay soil which was exposed beneath is now
renowned for the production of Timothy hay.
This was only the start of Hugh Seton’s improvements to Touch. It is to him that we owe the magnificent south
front which was commenced in 1757 and continued till 1770 when the Drawing Room ceiling was completed. As
a result of his expenditure on both house and lands, Hugh Seton found himself in considerable debt and departed
abroad, but not before spending a short period in a debtors’ prison at Dover. He must have been an eccentric and
charming man travelling all over the Middle East disguised as an Arab, while being welcomed and entertained at
many British embassies during his travels. His son, Archibald, determined to clear the estate of debt, joined the
East India Company and sailed to India in 1779. Over the next 39 years he rose to high office. He both achieved
his initial object and accumulated a further considerable sum, but sadly died on his way home before reaching
Touch on whose behalf he had worked all his life.
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His sister, Barbara who had married Sir Henry Stuart of Allanton, inherited the estate. Sir Henry was a well known
arboriculturist and planted many of the fine trees on Touch, as well as publishing a treatise on his method of
moving semi-mature trees. The Planter’s Guide. While Archibald was in India he looked after the estate on his
behalf, and tried to persuade him in 1809 to pull down most of the house and erect a new front with a wing on
either side to the designs of Gillespie Graham and, a few years later of Sir William Burroughs. Fortunately
Archibald did not agree, and after his death Sir Henry did not pursue the matter, and so the fine south front with the
Seton coat of arms on the pediment remains for us to appreciate. He took the name of Seton-Stuart and their
family remained the lairds of Touch until it passed to the present owners, the Buchanans in 1928.
Charles Buchanan engaged Sir Robert Lorimer to make improvements such as the installation of bathrooms,
heating and lighting in the house, and the replacement of the original windows in place of the plate glass
introduced in the Victoria era. Lorimer carried out this work with great sympathy. His one structural alteration
was to remove what had been the wall on the left as you enter the hall, and this gives feeling of spaciousness and
light to what must have been a rather gloomy entrance.
Adjacent to the house, the walled garden and the adjoining woodland garden contain over 150 different species of
rhododendrons and azaleas as well as many other interesting trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants, and are visited by
hundreds of people when the gardens are open. Before the last war the grassed portion of the garden, which you
can view from under the old yew trees, was divided into dozens of geometric beds filled and replaced often twice a
year with a series of bedding plants. Two herbaceous borders, separated by a grass path, ran from the topiary
pheasants at the foot of the steps right up to the stone seat by the wall at the top of the garden. The rest of the
garden was filled with vegetables and fruit to feed the large number of people who worked in the garden and
house. It was a glorious sight, but belonged to a very different era, and the aim is now to have as many of our
favourite plants as possible, in a labour saving layout, so as to be able to maintain the garden ourselves without
staff. We hope that you will have the opportunity to walk round and will enjoy it.
The 18th Century Additions
The south front, as has been said, was commenced in 1758, and has traditionally been attributed to the Adam
family, although to date there is no certain proof of this. Existing plans dated 1748 could have been prepared by
William Adam (the father of Robert and John), who died the following year. There are in the house detailed
receipted accounts for the construction, but they contain no reference to any architect, and perhaps it was left to
Master Mason, Gideon Gray to supervise the construction of the 1748 design. The only major difference between
the present house and those plans is in the staircase, which in the plans was shown as a square and not an oval. A
stair of such a brilliant design might well have been the work of William’s son, Robert Adam, but that remains a
mystery.
The stone for the front of the house and for the stairs came from Longannet quarries, was carried by sailing brigs
up the Forth and then by horse and cart out from Stirling. David Henderson of Clackmannan was the glazier, and
the hot water boiler was supplied by the newly founded Carron Iron Works with strict instructions not to fill the
boiler with cold water, and that “Gentlemen found it convenient to pay their account by return”!
Passing beneath the little pediment immediately above the front doorway with the monogram of the Hugh and
Elizabeth Seton, you enter the front hall with the bottom of the stair framed by stone pillars, and beyond these you
look up to the cupola with the staircase curling up to it. On the left of the hall there is the Morning Room which,
like all the ground floor rooms, is of a similar height to the hall.
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On ascending the stairs to the first floor landing there is a 17th C Flemish tapestry depicting “The Departure for the
Chase”, and on the other side of that wall in the Drawing Room the 18th C Brussels tapestry of “Diana Resting
From the Chase” from a design by Charles de la Fosse. The two large portraits are by de Lazlo, and the smaller
one by James Gunn. The plasterwork on the ceiling both here, next door in the Dining Room and in the Music
Room on the top floor are the work of Thomas Clayton, who charged £104: 9: 0d for the Drawing Room ceiling
and £61: 15: 9d for the Dining Room. The timber for the panelling in these rooms came from the Baltic ports of
Gottenburg and Riga.
Opposite the Drawing Room door a passage leads to the 16thC panelled bedroom, or proceeding up the stairs the
small curved door half way up takes you to the Old Library. To both these rooms reference has been made earlier.
Continuing up the front stairs to the top landing on the right there is the Music Room with another fine ceiling by
Thomas Clayton. Musical instruments surround the central motif of an Apollo’s head in a sunburst. On the table
are the old estate maps drawn in 1810, together with other papers documenting the development of the house and
estate. Adjoining the Music Room is a bedroom with linen wall hangings. It is interesting to note how they have
drawn and coloured the designs by hand where the printed panels meet.
Before descending the stairs to the hall it is worth noting the plaster work round the bottom of the cupola. This
particular design was, some say, unique to Robert Adam, but as we know that the Master Plasterer, Clayton, did
much work for Adam he would hold the moulds and may have made use of them whenever he had occasion. In
1976 the cupola (which is 16 ft. across) split open in a gale and was replaced with the assistance of the Historic
Buildings Council for Scotland. Beneath the lead on the top a note was found stating that the cupola had been
replaced in 1860. The 1758 original had therefore lasted 112 years, and its replacement almost exactly the same
number of years.
Gideon Gray
It would be easy to attribute the house to the very competent Gideon Gray, who signs all his accounts as “master
mason”, and would have been working from the 1748 plan. We know nothing of him until he arrived with his
tools from Edinburgh in 1758. He married a tenant farmer’s daughter and remained on the estate as Estate Factor,
building gates, farm buildings and general supervision. He was engaged by the Burgh Council to advise on the
repair of the old, but still at this time – only – bridge in Stirling, and perhaps because he asked for no payment, he
was admitted as a Burgess of the Royal Burgh. He also built the attractive addition to the High School in Stirling.
Gray lived in retirement in Stirling, died in 1791 and is buried in the old graveyard at St Ninians Kirk. It seems as
unlikely that Hugh Seton would have engaged the apparently unknown Gideon Gray in the role of architect for
Touch, as it does that Gray should be content to confine his subsequent work primarily to the farm buildings which
were required for the newly drained Touch lands.
Touch today
Touch Estate remains then as today, some 4500 acres of woodland and farms. There are the 5 carse farms, which
were the result of the reclamation in the 18th C, the parks and woodland on the ground rising to the Touch Hills
where there is a substantial hill farm. The house is very much an integral part of the rest of the estate. Of prime
importance is agriculture, but the public are encouraged to make use of the opportunities which the estate can
provide. Many local anglers fish in the lochs on the moor which are also the water supply for Stirling. The Forth
Valley Orienteers have mapped a number of courses through the woods and hills, and these are used for
international as well as regional competitions. The Boy Scouts have a permanent camp, the Army hold occasional
exercises and there are guided walks under the auspices of the Countryside Rangers.
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