Basic Biographical Details Name: | Robert Mylne | Designation: | | Born: | 1633 | Died: | 10 December 1710 | Bio Notes: | Robert Mylne was born in 1633, the eldest son of Alexander Mylne who was the second son of John Mylne (died 1657). He was apprenticed to his uncle John who died in 1667 and the following year, 1668, he succeeded him as Master Mason to the Scottish Crown.
Mylne’s first recorded work is Wood’s Hospital in Largo built in 1665. Thereafter he is recorded as being involved in various country house projects and public works in Fife and Perth. In 1671 he began work at Holyroodhouse under the direction of Sir William Bruce. Mylne’s name and the date July 1671 are inscribed in a pillar of the quadrangle. Bruce was largely responsible for the design but Mylne would have attended to practical details and a set of drawings in his hand is still extant.
In the 1670s Mylne worked at Thirlestane for the Duke of Lauderdale for whom he also made gatepiers for Ham House, Surrey to Bruce’s design. A range of other commissions followed, some under the direction of Sir William Bruce but others, it would seem, more independently including a bridge over the Clyde in Lanarkshire at Ramelwell Crags or Ram’s Horn Pool.
Robert Mylne ventured into a considerable amount of speculative building. He obtained land on the Shore in Leith where he built a large tenement named Mylne's Land at 8-14 Shore in 1677, which was still largely owned by his great-great grandson William Chadwell Mylne in the mid C19th. It is thought he built the adjoining 10 bay tenement at Nos. 16-22 which was demolished in 1968. He also built the still-surviving circular windmill, known as the signal tower, in 1685.
In Edinburgh he built Mylne’s Square (dem) which was opposite the Tron Church, Milne’s Court in the Lawnmarket as well as Milne’s Land outside the Potter-Row Gate.
His speculative building activity enabled Mylne to purchase two estates, one at Balfargie in Fife and the other at Inveresk ‘where he generally retired to live free from the hurry of business’. In 1672 he had registered a coat of arms. He had married Elizabeth Meikle in 1661 and they had fourteen children, eight sons and six daughters. He was succeeded as head of the family by his son William who was also a master mason. His eldest daughter Janet married the architect James Smith.
Mylne died on 10 December 1710 and was buried in the family vault at Greyfriars. He is commemorated on a monument he had erected to his uncle John.
A portrait of Mylne is reproduced in R S Mylne’s book ‘The Master Masons to the Crown of Scotland’.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Balfargie, Fife, Scotland | Private | 1670s | | | | Inveresk, Edinburgh, Scotland | Private | 1670s | 1710 | |
Employment and TrainingEmployersThe following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes | | John Mylne | | | Apprentice | |
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | APSD | | The Dictionary of Architecture | ed Wyatt Papworth | The Architectural Publication Society (8v 1852-1892) | | | DNB | | Dictionary of National Biography | | | | | Mylne, R S | | The Master Masons to the Crown of Scotland | | | | | Wood & Armet (ed.) | | Extracts from the Records of the City of Edinburgh | | | 1681-9, 1898-1701, 1701-18 | | Wood, M (ed) | | Extracts from the Records of the City of Edinburgh 1665-80 | | | |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | National Archives of Scotland (formerly SRO) | Gifts and deposits | GD 1/51 | Mylen papers |
|