350-year-old Bonnie Prince Charlie house in battle for survival - with buckets deployed
The house where Bonnie Prince Charlie survived an assassination attempt faces a new threat.
A house where Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed during the 1745 Rising and faced an assassination attempt when a musket ball was fired into his bedroom is under threat.
Volunteers at Bannockburn House near Stirling are fighting back against incoming water at the once-lavish pile, with buckets used to protect the building from further damage amid hopes that emergency funding to protect the property can be secured.
The property was bought by the community in 2017 amid a vision to turn it into a community events space where its rich history could be celebrated.
Bonnie Prince Charlie recuperated from illness at the house in January 1746 with the help of his lover, Clementina Walkinshaw. The house was also used as a HQ during the Battle of Falkirk Muir, which ended in narrow Jacobite victory.
But the winter weather is the latest enemy to advance at the property, with recent £50,000 repairs to the roof uncovering major structural issues with the brick chimney.
Emergency funding of £400,000 is now being sought from Historic Environment Scotland (HES) for the work to overhaul the chimney and protect the Bonnie Prince Charlie room - where the musket ball lodged in the wall - and rare 17th-century plasterwork from damage.
Jack Jardine, operations manager at the Bannockburn House Trust, said: “More than ever, the condition of the building is under threat. If the funding doesn’t come - and we are very hopeful that it will - we will have to look to other sources.
“If the water ingress continues, it doesn’t meant that Bannockburn House will be lost forever, but it will be the single biggest threat to the survival of the house.”
Mr Jardine said volunteers contributed a combined 1,000 hours to the house every month and were determined to protect it.
He said: “The volunteers love the house and will not allow it to be lost to the community. We will hunker down and do what we can with what funding we can get.
“We need the people of Scotland to take a little bit of interest in us. A lot of people don’t know we are here. It is such an important part of Scottish history and we really want people to connect with their history and their heritage.”
Bannockburn House was built in 1675 for Sir Hugh Paterson, a prominent Jacobite and uncle of Clementina Walkinshaw. She and the prince went on to have a child, Charlotte, the Duchess of Albany.
During the prince’s stay, Stirling was besieged by Jacobites, with the Battle of Falkirk Muir fought on January 17. Recent research has proven a long-running tale that a musket ball was fired through the prince’s bedroom window while he was in residence.
Mr Jardine said the water was primarily coming into the ‘Long Room’ on the second floor, with drips now entering a small space next to the ‘Blue Room’ below, which is bedecked with the rare plasterwork.
“Our volunteers are up there almost every day with buckets,” Mr Jardine said.
A “tiny bit” of water was entering the Bonnie Prince Charlie Room, the bedroom where the musket ball was embedded in the wall, he added.
The trust took the decision to close the property to visitors in October given its deteriorating condition, with storms at the end of last year advancing the damage. A decision on emergency funding from HES is due by the end of March, it is understood.
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