Broughton House Kirkcudbright Endowment

Endowment to enable the National Trust for Scotland to take over Broughton House from the Hornel Trust. Broughton House has a nationally significant library and art archive – the collection of EA Hornel – and is one of very few Scottish examples of an artist-designed garden. This together with Broughton House itself, and the studio and gallery commissioned by Hornel, results in a unique cultural resource both for our understanding of the turn of the 19/20th Century artistic milieu and the concerns and interests of one of Scotland’s most successful and distinctive artists. Broughton House is a property unique in Trust terms, it is not truly a 'house' in the sense of traditional 'show' properties, or even 'birthplace' properties which are often reconstructions; it has strong museum characteristics because of the importance of the collection, archive and library. It is more immediately comparable to Monet’s studio and garden at Giverny, though this is in fact a post hoc re-creation. Yet Broughton House is not solely about the artistic process or the artist’s setting, but equally it is about Hornel’s other passion – his love for Dumfries and Galloway. From 1919, he consciously set out to gather a collection of books on local and related topics, intending always to open Broughton House as a 'Public Library and Art Gallery for the benefit of the people of the Stewartry and visitors thereto'. The Trust’s primary task at Broughton House is to permanently preserve the nationally important library, archive and collections within Broughton House and maintain the house and garden preserving Hornel’s influence on the place. The Heritage Lottery Fund significantly supported the major refurbishment programme.