What has happened to Carlyle’s House?

Catherine Utley writes in Boisdale Life Magazine about her fears for the future of Carlyle’s House, where she used to volunteer. The custodian who has lived there for 20 years has been made redundant with no replacement in sight.

She writes, ‘I came to love Carlyle House through volunteering there, and ominous signs make me fear for its future. First, the National Trust listed the house in its gazetteer of properties linked with slavery and ‘colonialism’ because of Carlyle’s views on race. Next, a podcast, apparently inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, was posted on the Trust’s Carlyle House website. After lockdown came news of the custodian’s redundancy. Then, volunteers were told that whenever the house re-opens, “a different visitor experience” is planned.’

She tells us about the approach of Linda Skippings, the last custodian:

‘The character and taste of the gloomy writer and his witty, vivacious wife really do pervade the rooms. This is thanks largely to Linda Skippings’ approach to running the house, which was similar to what we know of Jane’s– practical, efficient, kind to animals, and cost-conscious. Linda was also committed to preserving the spirit of the place. Suggestions for technical innovations such as audio guides would be politely dismissed. Neither would she allow posters or signs, nor any dumbing down of the wealth of visitor information. This was strictly factual, neutral, elegantly written (much of it by her husband) and typed on cards placed around the rooms.’

The future of the house remains uncertain:

‘As volunteers await news of whether our services will be required again, dust sheets cover the furniture and paintings, so well cared for over so many years. The new parlour carpet – copied from the one in Robert Tait’s 1857 painting of the room (an exercise that took many years of research and craftsmanship) barely saw the
light of day before the house was shuttered so suddenly. A part-time employee comes in to answer emails and tend the garden, which nobody sees, and a security firm keeps watch remotely.’