'The House of Binns and the Dalyells', The Hon Mrs Dalyell OBE DL FSA Scot

This week our Club gave a warm welcome to our speaker Kathleen Dalyell who was accompanied by her well known husband Tam Dayell, the former Scottish Labour MP who was Member of Parliament in the House of Commons representing West Lothian and Linlithgow from 1962 to 2005. Kathleen, who was previously a history teacher, is a member of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland and has served as Chair of the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments. She is also a National Trust for Scotland administrator at The Binns and was awarded an OBE in 2005.

During her very interesting and informative talk Kathleen spoke fondly of her family's association with the House of Binns, an historic house near Linlithgow, which has been the seat of the Dalyell family since 1612. The original manor house which dates back to the 15th century was purchased in 1612 by an Edinburgh burgess named Thomas Dayell who became prosperous through importing butter from Orkney to Leith to be used as axle grease.

Thomas Dalyell completed the rebuilding of the house in 1630 and the Dalyell family have lived there ever since. Since that time the house, which is set in 200 acres of parkland and enjoys panoramic views across the River Forth, has been extended and modified by successive generations and contains a collection of porcelain, furniture and portraits tracing the family's lives and interests through the centuries. Today the building is three-storey at the main north facade, with two-storey wings.

In 1944, the house, its parklands, its contents and an endowment for its upkeep were gifted to the National Trust for Scotland by Eleanor Dalyell, Tam's mother, but the right of the family to reside in The Binns was retained in the charter. It is the only National Trust for Scotland property where the donor family reside in the house and Kathleen, who is keenly involved in its ongoing maintenance on behalf of the National Trust for Scotland, invited us to visit The Binns to see first hand the splendours of its architecture, setting and contents.

Peter Cowlishaw thanked both Tom and Kathleen Dalyell for attending our meeting and, particularly Kathleen, for giving us an excellent insight into the history of The Binns.

Report by Graham Low