I stumbled across a big house in Bothwell last summer that was being worked upon. The building dates from the 1860's and was originally in large gardens. It has now been surrounded by other houses facing a large square. I got permission from the owner, who happened to be on site, to take some photographs of some of the more than 40 leaded glass windows in the house although it has been divided into two houses - one at the back and another - the one being worked on - at the front. This is a record of some of those windows on the ground, first and second floors.
This is what remains of the original entryway. The leaded glass from the front door has been lost and replaced by a single sheet of textured glass.
However when you turn right into one of the lounges, the glass is much better preserved. This lounge has a curved bay of five windows each of which has been curved including the leaded glass at the top.
You can see from these photos, that the amount and colour of the light affects the character of the window in addition to the planned variations.
The room also contains a second door with a fanlight over it. This is done in the same pattern and colour way as the others, but does not have any trees immediately outside.
The lounge on the other side of the hallway has a different character. It has a rectangular bay which leads me to wonder about whether one was mainly the women's sitting room. This more rectangular lounge has a bay of three front facing windows, and two side windows, one of which is represented here.
 |
| Front rectangular lounge windows |
 |
| One of the side bay windows |
At the back of the house the windows become more plain and sometimes seem to be functioning as security screens as in this downstairs cloak room.
As you go up a long stair way, you come to a now blanked off entrance to the first floor rooms above the kitchen and servants' quarters. However as you turn to go up the second, shorter flight you pass this stair window.
The detail is difficult to see, so I have divided the window into three parts to give an impression of the amount of detail in this deceptively simple window.
 |
| Top |
 |
| Middle |
 |
Bottom
|
The rooms of this part of the first floor have windows of the same design as the lounges below. However, none of the rooms of this part of the house are bowed.
 |
| Sometimes the windows are paired |
 |
| Sometimes the design is squashed for a narrow window |
 |
| For a wide window, a central astragal is introduced |
 |
| In others, the design is a direct echo of the ground floor windows |
 |
| The windows to the side and back tend to be rectangular, wider and have an astragal |
If you have the stamina, you can go up to the second floor where the billiard room must have been.
 |
| Front of the billiard room looking into the square. |
Here, in under the roof, a vestige of the design from the ground floor remains.
Posts
