Sir William Hume-Campbell formerly Purves, eldest son. Marchmont House, a mansion in Polwarth parish, Berwickshire, ¾ mile SW of Marchmont station on the Berwickshire loop-line of the North British, this being 3¾ miles NE of Greenlaw and 3¾ SW of the post-town Duns. It is the seat of Sir Hugh Hume-Campbell, seventh Bart. since 1665 (b. 1812; suc. 1833), who holds 20,180 acres in the shire, valued at £17, 977 per annum. His father, [actually, his grandfather] Sir William Purves, inherited the property from his great-uncle, the third and last Earl of Marchmont (1708-94), whose ancestors, the Humes, possessed the lands of Polwarth for three centuries. The most famous of them, Sir Patrick Hume (1641-1724), distinguished as a patriot and statesman, was created Lord Polwarth in 1690 and Earl of Marchmont in 1697. (See Harden.) The mansion was built about 1754 by the last Earl to supersede Bedbraes Castle, situated 200 yards to the E. A semi-Palladian edifice, from designs by the celebrated Robert Adam, it stands in a large and finely-wooded park, whose trees, however, suffered great damage from the gale of 14 Oct. 1881, when the majestic beech avenue, nearly 1 mile long and 100 yards broad, was wrecked. Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865.
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