Fight is on to secure future for renowned Scott house

Published on Wednesday 23 April 2008 22:10

A £10 MILLION campaign is under way to secure the long-term future of Sir Walter Scott's most famous home in the Scottish Borders.

The Duke of Buccleuch has agreed to head up a trust to mastermind an overhaul of Abbotsford House.

It is 175 years since Abbotsford was first opened to the public in 1833, five months after the death of Scott, author of novels including Waverley, Rob Roy and Ivanhoe, and the poem The Lady of the Lake.

However, the future of the A-listed mansion has been in doubt since the death in 2004 of Dame Jean Maxwell-Scott, his last direct descendant.

The trust plans to submit an application to the Heritage Lottery Fund in October. Approaches will be made to conservation and historical trusts, as well as philanthropists around the world.

One move to attract tourists could be to rename the station at the end of the proposed 295 million Waverley rail line between Edinburgh and the Borders Abbotsford instead of Tweedbank.

Sir Walter wrote most of the Waverley novels in his study at Abbotsford.