Selected Contents from Ravensby Hall, Carnoustie
Ravensby Hall, an elegant and substantial Victorian country house in Angus, northeast Scotland, incorporates elements of Picturesque Gothic and Scottish Baronial architecture, and from its private setting overlooks parkland and the valley of the Barry Burn near Carnoustie. It is a Victorian confection of turrets, bays, and gables and speaks of the romantic historicism that so heavily influenced Victorian taste. The house was built in the 1870s for the Thomson family of Dundee, who had acquired their wealth through the 19th century, initially in shipping, eventually expanding into publishing, buying the Dundee Courier in 1886. Ravensby Hall was intended as their country retreat, befitting a family of their status in Scottish society. From the 1960s Ravensby was the residence of Peter and Patricia Grace Shaw, who established the successful Lochdene Kennels, breeding the
Entrance Hall 1 HD995/12 GEORGE IV ROSEWOOD AND PARCEL GILT MARBLE TOP CONSOLE TABLE CIRCA 1825 the veined black marble top inset with specimen marble above a plain moulded frieze, raised on bold acanthus carved scrolling volute supports with a mirror back 123cm wide, 92cm high, 51cm deep £800-1,200
award-winning Lochdene cocker spaniels. Patricia Shaw (previously Tosh) was a respected International Champion Dog Show judge, and a frequent Crufts adjudicator of gun dogs. The house was tastefully furnished with an eclectic mix of 19th century British and Continental furniture, Asian porcelain and Eastern furniture and carpets in keeping with its Victorian roots. Part of the furnishings at Ravensby came from Lochton Castle (now demolished), an earlier traditional Scottish Baronial dwelling built in 1852 near Inchture, Perthshire, and purchased by Mr. & Mrs. Alfred Tosh upon their return from India in the early 1900s. Mr Tosh was involved with the Jute industry in Dundee, whilst the family of Mrs Tosh (nee Stewart) were the owners of the Dundee whisky distillers, Stewart & Son.