Priestfield House

Not to be confused with Prestonfield House, Edinburgh.

Priestfield House was a Victorian Country House near Cults, Fife, Scotland.

The estate, originally an outlying property of Crawford Priory, was purchased from the Earl of Glasgow by a wealthy merchant, James Martin Esq. in 1889. In 1892, he aggrandized the existing house by the addition of a substantial East Wing, comprising a first floor Billiards Room, a conical tower and a large Dining Room. In addition to this, the existing Service Wing was expanded to accommodate a larger domestic staff. The architect for the work was James Ross Gillespie of Gillespie & Scott of Queen Street, St Andrews. The same architect was responsible for the construction of the extensive Priestfield Maltings nearby.

The House was demolished in c.1968, owing partially to the decay of the East Wing. The Wash House, a fragment of the original service wing, survives.

The Martin Family wealth had come, in part, from the extraction and burning of Lime from Cults Hill, Pitlessie, an industry dating back to at least the twelfth century. David Martin (b.1799), a Gentleman Farmer, and tenant of the Earl of Glasgow, was followed into the industry by his son, James Martin Esq. (1841-1898), who later bought the Priestfield Estate, and enlarged the house. The operation of the works passed out of the family in 1920, being taken over by Lord Cochrane whose family had retained the mineral rights on both the Crawford and Priestfield Estates.

Priestfield passed to his daughter, Mary Martin Smith Martin (1875-1909). The House was subsequently inherited by a cousin, James Martin Smith JP, Laird of Priestfield (1876-1933), who assumed the additional surname of Martin. He married Marion Martin Smith (née Ainslie), of the families of Ainslie of Dolphinton and Hunter of Polmood.

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