Places in My Postcard

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A photograph of Castle Milk from a similar time as the postcard. 

Castle Milk, completed in 1870 and designed by David Bryce, is found in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland. Built for Robert Jardine, a partner in the firm of Jardine Matheson, the castle was the home of one of the founders of the British Colony of Hong Kong. The design and infrastructure of the monument is that of the Scottish Baronial architecture style. There is a large four-story tower, decorated with what appears to be dogs heads (Canmore National Record of the Historic Environment, 2019).This style of architecture evolved during the Jacobeth Revival in England and often incorporates conical roofs, battlements, machicolations and tourelles, which were popular in larger house such as this. Baronial architecture is often explained as being derived from medieval tower-houses and castles. This postcard exemplifies this style by the use of the above stylistic elements. In the postcard you can see a circular shaped attachment with cone-roof, set at high level which are a form of tourelles popularly included during the Scottish Baronial period (Curl & Wilson, 2015).

Years later, The Castle Milk Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital was established by Lady Buchanan-Jardine, the Dumfriesshires President of the Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachments. In 1914, the castle took on this new role and treated patients throughout the First World War. The very first patients were seventeen Belgian soldiers wounded in battles near Diksmuide. In early 1919, the Castle’s hospital was closed due to the end of the war (McCracken, 2015). 

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