In a visit to the Falkirk area of Scotland in 1996, I could not locate Dunipace House, which my research suggests is the ancestral estate of my branch of the Livingston family. It was quite easy to find the Hills of Dunipace, two mounds described to me in 1996 as prehistoric, and the modern cemetery next to them, but no house was found in the immediate area. Nearby Callendar House, the main estate of the Livingstons prior to the 18th century, had just opened its research library in 1996 and the library did provide a picture of Dunipace House (but no information). Their pictured house resembled to a high degree, nearby
Denovan House, which I did find (at some risk to our investigative paparazzi) and thought for a time to be Dunipace House masquerading under a new owner name.
Susan and I undertook to find whatever remains of Dunipace House in a return visit in 2000. We consulted again with Callendar House which by this time had hired an archaeologist. The archaeologist was acquainted with some research done by John Reid for the Falkirk Local History Society journal, Calatria, issues #9 and #10. This research pointed out that Dunipace House had been destroyed by fire in 1897. Nigel Turnbull of Scotland has forwarded me a fascinating version of the picture from Callendar House. Here it is:
Dunipace House - burnt 1897
The fascinating part comes from all the tiny figures one can almost see scattered about the figure. Starting with the easiest, a rather short man or boy in a golf hat at the main door, next, someone peering out from under a shade in the window just above the main door, a maid hanging a curtain in the window above that one (third floor gable), a man with a porkpie hat standing on something in the underpass just to the right of the maindoor stairs, and so on. I think I can see at least four others including a man standing in the largest tree but I leave such searching as an excercise for the viewer. One is left to wonder at what was going on here or is my imagination just too overactive?
More commentary by Nigel Turnbull says the pictured building was rebuilt in the late 1890's after the previous eighteenth-century house had been destroyed by fire in 1897. There have been various houses on the site as far back as the twelfth century. Families who had homes here include the Livingstones, Spottiswoodes and Primroses. William Wallace has been said (c. 1274-1305) to have visited here when his uncle was the priest at the family chapel. The final building on the site was demolished in the 1940's after housing St. Andrew's boarding school between 1922 and 1931. Then with regards to paparazzi, Nigel said, "As regards paparazzi, when I wanted a photo of Denovan House, I just drove up, knocked the door and asked -- yep it can be that simple." I am such a fearsome violet! Thanks Nigel for all your help and I regret the delay in posting your assistance.
In Reid's article (#10 pg4) a map was presented, which I have copied in part below and made some textual additions to for my purposes. (Apologies to Mr. Reid; his TWO drawings have even more details.) Next to the drawing I have included my photo of the standing tower which is explained below.
The additions to the map are labels for the features found to this day, namely, the two hills, the cemetery, and notably, an approximate location of a still standing tower which is presumed part of the burnt Dunipace House.
{Email communications give a different explanation for the Standing Tower and I feel they should be presented here as several people sent the same comment; see below**; this leaves me finding it necessary to remind readers that the structure called Standing Tower [dovecot or dovetower] is actually about 200 yards east of the position of the burned Dunipace house, and not part of the 19th century house in any case. The labels are therfore incorrect and will be replaced as soon as possible.}
Since the burnt house was first built early in the 18th Century it could not have been the house lived in by the last resident Baron, David Livingston. The Callendar House archaeologist asserted that an earlier edifice had once stood on the Smaller Hill and it had to be the one occupied by the David Livingston family (including his son, John, the hereditary last Baron who did not pick up the title). To this information I can only add the results of a brief field inspection which did reveal more. While I cannot claim by education to be an archaeologist, I have participated in surface surveys of archaeological sites under the tutelage of professionals, and I get a somewhat different impression from seeing the actual surface at Dunipace.
Susan and I sampled several locations around the base of the Smaller Hill looking for any archaic remains, especially pottery, tile, and china shards as well as any dressed stones or stone fragments. While I do have the impression the Smaller Hill is an ancient monument, no such debris was found. As one can see from the photograph, the hill is actually rather small to be the base for a 14th - 17th century castle or house. Also there appears to be no fear on the part of site managers (whoever they are) that anyone will disturb artifacts as there is no security fence. Note that the photo below shows the security fence surrounding the Larger Hill.
Contrasted with the results at the Smaller Hill is an impression created by my photo inside the fence at the base of the Larger Hill. This photo shows china shards and dressed building stones in profusion. (I confess to having reached through the fence and pulled up one of the shards so that it was more visible in the photo.) The necessity of the security fence is revealing in itself as is the presence of the main road which comes straight to the Larger Hill in both old and new maps of the area. In addition, there appeared to be some building stones standing in place up the hill, but I could not see that well enough from the fence line to be certain. Based on the presented information here, I would select the larger mound as the home of the last Livingstons (presumably of my line) who occupied this area before their son, John Livingston, was forced to Virginia by circumstance or orders from the chief at Callendar House.
(C)Copyright 2000 Julian Livingston, All Rights Reserved Use the photos for personal collections and limited publication in your family histories. This does not imply further copyright to bar myself in any way.
** Most claim the tower is a comparatively recent addition (early 20th century) and is a "DOVE" tower put up by bird enthusiasts. Certainly possible, and I suppose the burned effect is because local materials (from Dunipace House) were salvaged for building the tower. Or it was built by Dunipace inhabitants and suffered from proximity to the conflagration. Actually, it looked most like the base of a chimney that had presumably been converted to said "Dove Tower." Note the bricked up door that could have been used to remove accumulations at the base of the chimney.
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