Spring Cemetery Kirkgate Kinross Perthshire Scotland

Tour Scotland Spring 4K travel video of the cemetery at Kirkgate on visit to Kinross, Perthshire. A small graveyard on a promontory which extends into Loch Leven a half mile East South East of the centre of Kinross. The Kirkgate Graveyard lies next to Kinross House. The builder of that property, King's Surveyor and Architect and Merchant, Sir William Bruce, born 1630, died 1710, lies here with his family in a small mausoleum. Sir William Bruce was born at Blairhall in West Fife. Bruce came to note when he acted as negotiator between General Monk, born 1608, died 1670, and the exiled King Charles II, born 1630, died 1685, to bring about the Restoration of the Stuart dynasty. This role endeared him to the King resulting in several appointments and sufficient wealth to enable him to purchase Balcaskie Estate in Fife in 1665. Bruce became King's Surveyor and Master of Works in 1671 and one of the richest men in the country. He was a pioneer of the Palladian style and rebuilt and extended the Palace of Holyroodhouse. He was commissioned by land owners to design and build some of Scotland's greatest country houses, including Hopetoun and Thirlestane. An ambitious man, wishing to better his social position, he sold Balcaskie in 1684 and bought the estate of Kinross from the Earl of Morton, including the ancient Loch Leven Castle with its associations with Mary, Queen of Scots, born 1542, died 1587. He built Kinross House as his new home with the old castle forming part of a designed landscape. He had hoped to rise to the peerage but instead, with the death of his King and patron in 1685, he lost favour and money. He tried in vain to ingratiate himself with King James VII, but worse, following the Glorious Revolution of 1688, Bruce was seen as a supporter of the previous regime, arrested and brought to Edinburgh Castle. Although never convicted, he was a broken man and his project at Kinross House was never completed. He is buried in a small mausoleum in the adjacent kirkgate kirkyard.

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