The Estate and the Country House in Scotland, circa 1700

Using Hopetoun House as a case study, this book studies the intertwined relationship between land management, estate development and country house construction in the early decades of the eighteenth century. The book shows that in revitalising ancient landscapes and maximising their productivity and profitability, landowners transformed the landscape through improvement. Making use of the rich and extensive collection of private archives at Hopetoun House, alongside materials from national archives, the book traces how Scotland’s societal structure was transformed as the new consumer capitalist paradigm shift emerged. The country house was interwoven into this nascent phenomenon.