Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 2.djvu/560

 FOURTH PERIOD 544 PITREAVIE courtyard is still preserved in the avenue (Fig. 963). In the pediment over the gateway are the initials D. E. W., being probably those of the lady of the place. The letters are connected with the same kind of knotted wreath as those over the entrance door. FIG. 965. Pitreavie. View from the South- West. The estate of Pitreavie was acquired by Henry Wardlaw in 1615. He was Chamberlain to Queen Anne, and when James ascended the English throne, the Palace of Dunfermline was given to him in charge. In these offices he succeeded William Shaw, a well-known Scottish archi- tect, who died in 1602. On Shaw's monument in Dunfermline Abbey he is designated " as most skilful in architecture." Now it is not at all improbable, seeing that Wardlaw succeeded Shaw in office, that he also was skilled in architecture, and that he may have been the architect of Pitreavie House. It is perhaps somewhat against this theory that the initials over the doorway, S. H. W., are those of his son Henry, who was created a Baronet by Charles i. in 1631. Still, as the father was alive at this time, and till 1638, and probably later, it is quite possible that he may have designed the house for his son after 1631. The only date