Preserving our Heritage

Preserving our shared heritage

As you will discover when you visit, walking round the magnificent Bowhill House and Borders Estate gives you an incredible sense of history. It inspires a duty in us to protect this gem of our national heritage, as well as the beautiful natural lands that surround it.

This passion for protecting the achievements of past generations for the enjoyment of future ones is a commitment that everyone at Borders Estate and the wider Buccleuch estates takes very seriously.

It was John Charles, 7th Duke of Buccleuch and 9th Duke of Queensberry, who formally created the Buccleuch Estates Ltd in 1923. Since then the estates have earned international praise for the excellence of their countryside management, public accessibility, pioneering works in agriculture and forestry, wildlife and landscape conservation.

We have recently completed a 9-year project to replace much of the roof work and many of the chimneys on Bowhill House. We have also recently undertaken work to safeguard outbuildings such as the Bowhill Ice House and the historic Newark Tower.

The Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust

The Buccleuch Heritage Trust formed in 1984, by the 9th Duke of Buccleuch is an educational charitable trust, which administers the educational and public access to Bowhill House and the Estate. In 2011 it merged with the Living Landscape Trust to become the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust. It aims to build bridges in the understanding between town and country and provides facilities for educational visits from pre-booked groups of all ages.

The Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust represents a continuity of the Buccleuch commitment to conserve the British countryside. It provides, on the Borders Estate, access and information for a public that is rightly becoming ever more aware of environmental issues. Although the term “national heritage” is usually applied to historic houses and their contents, it is equally relevant to our landscape, its wildlife, and the people in its communities.

The Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust continues the traditions of a rural estate – under one family’s stewardship – in preserving its identity as part of the national heritage, and by providing instructive and rewarding access to many of the fascinating aspects of the countryside.

These efforts earned Bowhill a Sandford Award in 1993, 1998, 2004 and 2009.