Kinneil House

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free for everyone to see the outside of the house and walk Kinneil Estate at any time. The interior is shown only on Historic Scotland's guided tours on Saturdays from April to September, booked online in advance (Adult £7.50, Concession £6.00, Child £4.50, Historic Scotland members free; English Heritage, Cadw and Manx National Heritage members book through the partner organisation ticket).

ParkingParking not known

The Trust's page does not say how parking is charged.

Parking details

Historic Scotland: 'Limited parking available in estate, or park outside the estate at busy times. Please follow the signage as you enter the grounds. Parking is in the field immediately on your right as you enter the grounds. Please do not park on the grass in front of the house.' No charge or free statement is published, so the status is recorded as unknown.

Driving pin: the estate parking on the right inside the entrance, about 150 m east of the house. Kinneil Estate is on the western edge of Bo'ness off the A904; the nearest main line station is Linlithgow, and Citylink 909 buses serve Bo'ness.

About

In Kinneil Estate on the edge of Bo'ness, beside the Antonine Wall, stands a great house of the Hamilton family, who held Kinneil from 1323. The name means the head, or end, of the wall, and the Wall runs almost beneath the house, with a small Roman fortlet a short walk west. James Hamilton, Earl of Arran and Regent of Scotland, began the lodging block in 1553, and its rooms keep rare painted decoration, among the finest Renaissance wall paintings in Scotland. From the late 1670s Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, rebuilt the house over twenty years as a grand symmetrical mansion with gardens and an avenue. Inside is the Kinneil Cross, a large carved stone crucifix unique in Scotland. Behind the house, in a workshop, James Watt developed his prototype steam engine between 1769 and 1773, and its remains can still be seen. The estate is a public park, free and open all year; the house interior is seen only on paid guided tours on summer Saturdays.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Kinneil HouseEstate and outside of the house open; interior on guided tours only, Saturdays April to September, none until spring 2027

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'Entry to the house is by guided tour only. Tours run on Saturdays through the summer. Without a tour, you can explore the outside of the house and surrounding estate free of charge.' The Friends of Kinneil say the house opened in 2026 for guided tours almost every Saturday from the beginning of April to the end of September; tours must be booked online in advance and some dates book up.

Tour prices: Member free, Adult (16 to 64) £7.50, Concession (65+) £6.00, Child (7 to 15) £4.50, with family, Explorer Pass and partner organisation tickets online. Inside, two steps lead to the ground floor and the rest of the house is reached by spiral stairs. There are no public toilets at the house; Kinneil Museum next door is mainly closed during alterations, and the nearest accessible toilets are at Bo'ness public library. James Watt's workshop and the remains of Kinneil Church and a Roman fortlet are a short walk away in the estate.

Photo: The tall stone front of Kinneil House with its two pointed roofed pavilions, seen along the tree-lined driveway across the lawns. Colin Park, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kinneil_House_%5E_driveway,_Bo%27ness_-_geograph.org.uk_-_7032003.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.