FEATURES
RCAHMS
Royal Commission on the Ancient and
Historical Monuments of Scotland
n this issue of the magazine, work
for the ‘Skills for the Future’
programme is illustrated by Lynsey
Halliday's discussion of aspects of
the A C Wolffe Collection and Kayleigh
Russell's presentation of two drawings of
structures in Russia. Kristina Watson
highlights the Thomas Hadden collection
of glass plate negatives showing decorative
ironwork.
I
The Thomas Hadden Collection
A highlight of the RCAHMS photographic
collection is a set of about 216 glass plate
negatives illustrating the work of the firm of
Thomas Hadden, decorative ironworker
and smith.
Thomas Hadden was born in 1871, in
Hamilton, and came from a family of
ironworkers. He founded the business in
1901 with his brother Robert, a
woodcarver, setting up business in East
Silvermills Lane, Edinburgh. In 1927 the firm
moved to Roseburn Street. Thomas Hadden
died in 1940 but the business continued to
the late 1970s.
The business specialised in decorative
ironwork and was commissioned by a
number of architects and clients across
Britain including Pilkington Jackson and
Leslie Grahame-Thomson. From the earliest
days of the business they were also
extensively employed by Robert Lorimer
for works such as gates, railings and caskets
for projects including the Thistle Chapel,
Ardkinglas House and the Scottish National
War Memorial.
The glass plate negatives held by
RCAHMS date from c.1900-30, and show
ironworks for buildings including Busby Glen
Park, Skirling House, Astley Ainslie Hospital
and St Conan’s Church, Loch Awe.
However, the majority of pieces are
unidentified or show finished products in
the studio before they were installed in the
site for which they were commissioned. The
collection also includes family photographs.
RCAHMS has an active digitisation
programme and is in the process of
scanning all the glass plate negatives from
the Thomas Hadden Collection in order to
make them available online in the Canmore
database.
Clockwise from below:
Wrought iron gates at Skirling
Parish Church, Scottish Borders.
1933. Courtesy of RCAHMS
(Thomas Hadden Collection).
SC13422324
Wrought iron coat of arms.
Courtesy of RCAHMS (Thomas
Hadden Collection). SC1342323
Wrought iron gate. Courtesy of
RCAHMS (Thomas Hadden
Collection). SC1342327
Wrought iron wall lantern and
bracket. Courtesy of
RCAHMS (Thomas Hadden
Collection). SC1342322
Wrought iron gates at Newton
Don walled garden, Scottish
Borders. Courtesy of RCAHMS
(Thomas Hadden Collection).
SC1342325
Kristina Watson,
Collections Cataloguing Officer
32 I
THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND
I
AUTUMN 2013