Hamilton Palace: The Dukes of Hamilton and their collections

This is the story of Scotland’s lost treasure trove.

The destruction of Hamilton Palace, the grandest stately home in Britain, was one of the greatest losses to national heritage ever to happen in this country.

In 1882, Hamilton Palace stood grandly to the south-east of Glasgow. Home to the Dukes of Hamilton for nearly 300 years, inside its magnificent walls lived treasures to rival the Royal Collection. Exquisite furniture, famed paintings, coveted objets d’art, the finest finds from antiquity: it was the hoard of a family Daniel Defoe once called ‘great possessors.’

Yet by 1921, all of the Palace’s contents had been sold to the highest bidder and the stately home condemned for demolition. The spiral of decline started by the 10th duke’s grand architectural changes ended in subsidence caused by excessive coalmining.

Today, the treasures of Hamilton Palace are on display in museums and collections all over the world. National Museums Scotland, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the British Museum, the National Trust, the Louvre, Lennoxlove House and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts – all have carefully collected, stored, conserved and exhibited rooms and objects from Scotland’s lost treasure trove.