The Soane Museum Study Group is an open forum for scholars – both established and emerging – to present new research into an aspect of architectural history and/or Soane’s collection.
Samantha Carrie - ‘In the Manner of Inigo Jones’: The Jonesian Misattribution in 19th Century Scotland
In the Memoir of George Heriot (1845), Reverend William Steven relayed the popular myth that the great seventeenth-century architect, Inigo Jones (1573-1652), was responsible for the construction of Heriot’s Hospital, in Edinburgh, and Glames (Glamis) Castle in Brechin. According to tradition, Jones sent plans to his friend Dr. Balcanquall, the nephew of Heriot’s founder, from the Danish Court of Christian IV. Jones had recently completed designs for Frederiksborg Castle, reputed to have informed Heriot’s form. Yet, Jones is absent from the Hospital’s archival record. By the mid-nineteenth century, controversy surrounding the authorship of Scotland’s preeminent Renaissance seats led to the commission of Robert Ritchie’s report into the Hospital’s architect, it’s continental, and Scandinavian sources.
This talk aims to begin shedding light upon the motivations behind the construction of Jones’s fictitious migration to Scotland. As an architect to the English and Danish Royal Courts, Jones signified the Saxon and Teutonic political and racial ties Scotland sought to revive. Teutonic racialism did not only function as to stifle expressions of Scottish nationalism and to promote Unionism, but also contributed to the development of a self-confident nationhood. Graeme Morton has entitled this relationship ‘Unionist Nationalism’. As a proponent of architecture ‘in the manner of Inigo Jones’, the Civic architect William Henry Playfair (1790-1857) utilised the Renaissance revival to edify the myth of Scottish egalitarianism. By founding nationhood in objective realities and historical fallacy, nineteenth century Scottish architects could construct a timeless post-Enlightenment identity.
About the speaker
Samantha Carrie is a PhD candidate in the History of Art at the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture, based at the University of Cambridge. Her current research, concurrently supported by the Cranley and Chalke Valley Trusts, concerns the construction of the myth of Scottish egalitarianism by the Scottish architect William Henry Playfair (1790-1857). More than any other architect, he was responsible for Edinburgh earning its accolade as the ‘Athens of the North’, an idea which gained currency during the nineteenth century following Napoleon’s defeat in 1815.
Before joining the Centre, Samantha obtained her MA in Architectural History and Heritage from the University of Edinburgh in 2022. She was subsequently awarded an MPhil in History of Art and Architecture at the University of Cambridge in 2023. In addition to her studies, Samantha volunteered for the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland on the Forth and Borders Heritage Cases Panel. She is currently the Digital Editor for Cambridge’s Architectural History Seminar Series and catalogues the Playfair drawing collection held at the University of Edinburgh.
Event details
- Wednesday 4 June 2025, 18:00 - 19:30
- Drinks reception 18:00, talk begins at 18:30
- On arrival, please come to No. 14 Lincoln’s Inn Fields. The door will be staffed from 18:00
- Your email confirmation serves as your ticket