The Old Eating Room

This room stands exactly on the ground occupied by the original castle and, except for a small wing containing a staircase, conforms in size to the interior dimensions of the whole of the old tower house. The old masonry is certainly incorporated into the present walls. It is described on the plans as the Eating Room and this is confirmed by the trailing vine-leaves and grapes which decorate the chimneypiece, the frieze and above the doorcases, the baskets of fruit that enrich the curtain cornices and also the pier glasses. The three roundels in the ceiling were painted by Antonio Zucchi.

The pier glasses were designed by Robert Adam in 1782 for their present position. The tables below are also his design, likewise the curtain cornices. In 1975 the girandoles were fully restored according to Robert Adam's drawing dated March 1782. They are placed where he intended them to go originally, in the apses at each end of the room, over a serving-table. The chimney glass is also by Adam but it was intended for the dining room next door, when that was the Library. The black plaster urns were probably part of the original furnishings of the Library. The giltwood tables ill the apses are copies. Similar ones undoubtedly stood here as serving-tables. The armchairs, in simulated bamboo, are of particularly fine quality and were made by Young and Trotter of Edinburgh in 1793. The sofa-table, the drum-top table and the sofa date from the early years of lthe 19th century.

To the left of the fireplace is a view of save Frigate HMS London in a Breeze offShakNeare Cliff; Dover, by Luny, and to the right of the fireplace is a seascape by Van de Velde. The other small seascapes are by Charles Brooking (1723-59) in the western apse; that in the eastern apse is Dutch 17th-century.

The room was converted into a library in the 1870s, and was lined with dwarf bookcases. In 1973 the original 18th-century colour scheme was restored and the room furnished as a family sitting room.