Tanfield Hall

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Tanfield Hall was at Canonmills, about 1/4 mile to the NW of Canonmills Loch in this engraving:

Canonmills

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In 1843, the Ministers walked in procession to Tanfield Hall when they broke away from the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church of Scotland.  

DO Hill photographed many of the Ministers to be used when he painted the signing of the Deed of Demission in his painting of the Disruption. 

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Update 1

Thank you to Colin McLean who wrote:

"You say DO Hill photographed the ministers who left the Church of Scotland to form the Free Church. It was of course Robert Adamson who was the photographer and whose images were used by Hill as references for his famous painting."

Colin McLean, Peebles, Borders, Scotland:  28 May 2017

Update 2

In fact, such photos are usually attributed to 'Hill & Adamson' i.e. to the partnership) and that's the attribution that I should probably have given to this case.

Here is a quote from the Haliburn Time Line of Art History web site:

"Hill composed each picture, placing his sitters as they might appear in the finished painting.***

Adamson operated the camera and carried out the chemical manipulations. Hill and Adamson were a perfect team."

Peter Stubbs:  30 May 2017

***   This comment about composition  would be true for most of the portraits taken by the partnership, but not for this portrait of several hundred ministers!