Once a well-known family across Scotland, the Patons, were esteemed artists that lived in Dunfermline in the 19th century.
While there were numerous children in the family, the ones that went on to become famous artists were Sir Joseph Noël Paton, his sister Amelia Robertson Hill, née Paton, and their younger brother Waller Hugh Paton.
Their father, Joseph Neil Paton was a damask designer, and these artists lived in a house called Wooers’ Alley Cottage. The spot the house sat on is now situated in the woods close to Tesco Fire Station, but the house was demolished back in the 1920s.
Joseph Neil Paton also collected items of historical significance in the family home, including the toe bone (metatarsal) of Robert the Bruce. His father, David Paton, had been known in Dunfermline as a weaver, inventor, author, and even a town drummer.
Sir Joseph Noël started work for his father as a damask designer but became well-known for his paintings of fairies and religious scenes.
Amelia, on the other hand, was a successful sculptor who carved statues of Robert Burns in Dumfries and David Livingstone in Edinburgh, while Waller Hugh was a landscape artist who painted scenes of all over Scotland.
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Wooers’ Alley featured heavily in the family’s art, but sadly it is now gone, although the public can follow the Paton trail to see where the house once stood, along with other locations that are linked to the family.
Cat Berry, the great-great granddaughter of Sir Joseph Noël Paton, said: “The Patons, the crazy thing is, because we as a family, we haven’t done much highlighting of our ancestors throughout the years. It’s only really in the last couple of years we have organised ourselves and actually done something about it.”
The Paton Trail was created when Cat was home-schooling her children during lockdown and Amelia’s bicentenary birthday was coming up. “We decided to do a little trail around Edinburgh just for friends and family and then RSA got involved. It all grew from there.”
Thus, the Amelia Trail in Edinburgh was born. The trail is a walking tour of Amelia’s sculptures that are across Scotland’s capital, and the Paton Trail followed shortly after.
The Patons were influenced by Dunfermline’s history and stories, and this can be seen throughout their work. Sir Joseph Noël Paton painted fairies in many of his paintings, including in The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania. Growing up, he would have been told stories of fairies in the area. Perhaps the most famous Dunfermline fairy story, is the one surrounding King Charles I as a baby.
The story goes that as a baby, the then Prince Charles, who was born in Dunfermline Palace, was covered in a dark cloak by a fairy which his nursemaid is supposed to have seen. This started rumours that Charles had been switched for a changeling (a fairy child left behind in place of a kidnapped human one).
A plaque outside the palace ruins states: “Traditional tales report evil portents attending his infancy. In one of these a bloody cloak was said to have blown in through a window and rested on the child’s cradle.”
The mischievous nature of the fairies in Sir Joseph’s paintings can be seen, and if you look close enough, you will find an array of fairies to examine.
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Wooers’ Alley features heavily in the family’s work and the trees and burn surrounding the home can be seen in paintings, and a stump that Amelia used to learn her lessons on is used in her sculpture of Robert Burns in Dumfries.
Queen Margaret, Malcom Canmore, William Wallace, and Robert the Bruce were all sources of inspiration for the family, but the city’s beloved peacocks also surprisingly feature in their work.
What is surprising about this, is that Sir Joseph Noël Paton was including peacocks in his work at a time before most people think the birds were brought to the town. It’s believed that peacocks were brought here in 1905 by Henry Beveridge. However, a sketch of Wooers’ Alley from the 1830s by Joseph Noël Paton shows two of the birds in the garden.
Peacocks also feature in Joseph Neil Paton’s damask designs and peacock feathers appear in Joseph Noël’s fairy paintings. The birds appear to have been owned by Joseph Neil Paton and this suggests that peacocks have been in Dunfermline for almost 200 years.
Restoration to the garden in Wooers’ Alley is currently being undertaken by volunteers with The Patons of Dunfermline, a charity dedicated to research and education about the family’s works. As previously reported in the Press, the area had become overgrown and was an anti-social behaviour hotspot.
“It’s a continuing project because it’s always going to be there, but because we have got a little bit of a deadline in September.” Cat said.
The deadline in September is because the Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries (DCLG) will be hosting an exhibit of Sir Joseph Noël Paton’s work.
“We are hoping to at least get Wooers’ in some sort of state you can walk in it safely by then. Visitors can come see Noël’s work and see where he grew up as well.” She said.
“Of course, the house isn’t there, but the wood is. It’s a bit like the jungle these days.
“That’s what does feel really exciting at the moment, it’s kind of dead space that doesn’t get used.”
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The Paton trail can be followed by anyone and explores the life and work of the Paton family. It is made up of nine locations consisting of the site of Wooers’ Alley Cottage, Sir Joseph Noël Paton’s easel in Fire Station Creative Arts Centre and Café, the mural inspired by Joseph Neil Paton’s Damask on Bruce Street, Dunfermline City Chambers, Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries, Abbey Kirkyard, Dunfermline Abbey Church East Window, and Dunfermline Abbey west window, and the Andrew Carnegie Birthplace Museum.
DCLG is home to a marble portrait bust of Margaret Carnegie, mother of Andrew Carnegie, by Amelia, while the City Chambers house several paintings and drawings by Joseph Noël, as well as a portrait bust of Alexander Kilgour, former town clerk of Dunfermline, also by Amelia.
While Joseph Noël Paton was recognised for his work with the honour of being Queen Victoria’s Limner for Scotland, Amelia’s work was not given the same level of recognition during her lifetime due to gender inequality.
Amelia, despite creating the statue of David Livingstone in Princes Street Gardens and contributing three statues on the Scott Monument, was denied membership to the Royal Scottish Academy. In response to this, Amelia started up her own institute called The Albert Institute in Edinburgh which admitted people regardless of gender.
Cat commented: “I think she’s awesome really. She exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy over 60 times, but she wasn’t allowed to be a member because she was a woman.
“She was written out of all the history books because she was a woman, but she didn’t give up.”
However, Amelia was not the only Paton sister. “The person that’s less talked about is the sister who never became famous – Jemima. She was so really key in enabling Amelia’s career to flourish.
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“When her husband died and Amelia’s husband died, the sisters came to live with each other. Jemima did all the women’s work in order to allow Amelia to carry on her career.” Cat said.
Another woman who Cat is trying hard to get some recognition for is Lilias Adie. Lilias was from Torryburn, and she was accused of practicing witchcraft. Sadly, she died before she could go to trial and was buried on the shoreline near Torryburn under a stone slab.
Joseph Neil Paton had Lilias dug up from her resting place, likely due to historical interest, but her skull is thought to have eventually been passed on to the University of St Andrews. However, it is now missing and its whereabouts are unknown.
Cat is trying to find Lilias’ remains in order to give her a proper burial and to put right this wrong.
With the exhibit coming up in DCLG, the Paton family and their work is coming back to the forefront of Dunfermline’s history.
“It’s really exciting and what’s most exciting is not only are a load of paintings coming from other galleries around Scotland, but also for the first time there will be sketches that have never been on display before from the Paton family.” Cat said.
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