Castle in Scottish Borders

Barony Castle in the Scottish Borders near Peebles is a historic fortified house of considerable character that combines the architectural traditions of the Scottish tower house with the later development into a more comfortable and extensive country residence. The building has medieval origins and retains elements of its earliest defensive phases, while having been extended and adapted over subsequent centuries in ways that reflect the changing requirements and resources of its occupants. Today it operates as a hotel, bringing its historic fabric back into active use while providing visitors with a base for exploring the rich Border landscape. The Borders landscape around Peebles is one of the most historically layered in Scotland, combining prehistoric hill forts, Roman road alignments, early medieval kingdoms and the long heritage of the Border families whose fortified houses and towers are scattered across the hills and river valleys of the region. Peebles itself is a handsome market town on the River Tweed with a long history as a royal burgh, and the surrounding countryside includes a concentration of historic sites including Neidpath Castle above the Tweed, the ruins of several Border abbeys within comfortable reach and the wide open moorland of the Pentland Hills. The architecture of Barony Castle reflects the characteristically Scottish approach to fortified building, in which the vertical tower form was progressively augmented with additional wings, a baronial roofline of turrets and crowstepped gables and the internal improvements of comfort that became possible as the threat of serious attack receded in the later seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This pattern of evolution from defensive tower to comfortable country house is found across dozens of Scottish Border properties and gives the region's domestic architecture a distinctly stratified character. For visitors staying at the castle as a hotel, the experience combines the atmospheric qualities of a genuinely old Scottish baronial building with access to some of the finest walking, cycling and fishing country in the Borders. The River Tweed, famous for its salmon and sea trout, is a short distance away, and the surrounding moorland provides walking of considerable quality.

Thirlestane Castle at Lauder in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, is one of Scotland's oldest and most magnificent inhabited castles, a seventeenth-century mansion incorporating a medieval tower that has been the seat of the Maitland family, Earls of Lauderdale, for centuries. The castle was substantially rebuilt in the 1670s for the Duke of Lauderdale, Charles II's Secretary of State for Scotland and one of the most powerful figures in Restoration Scotland, creating an interior of exceptional opulence including the most elaborate Restoration plasterwork ceilings in Scotland. The castle remains in the ownership of the Maitland family and is open to visitors with guided tours of the state rooms and an exhibition of toys and games in the basement. The surrounding Lauder landscape in the Gala Water valley provides an attractive setting for one of the finest and most historically significant inhabited castles in Scotland.

Floors Castle in Kelso, Scotland is the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. It is a country house, rather than a fortress. It has a main block and two symmetrical service wings. The design incorporated an earlier tower house. The castle is now open to the public. Floors Castle hosts a number of events throughout the year including massed pipe band days and Highland games. Disabled visitors are made more than welcome here at Floors Castle. They offer a guide to meet and assist; a lift to assist entry to the Castle; disabled toilets; Disabled parking; Ramps to assist entry into the Restaurant; and Gift Shop at ground level. Floors Castle was originally built by William Adam for the 1st Duke of Roxburghe, in 1721. In the 19th century the castle was embellished with turrets and battlements. The Arts Floors Castle featured in the 1984 movie Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. The castle's reputation as a haunted house was the inspiration for M. R. James 1904 Ghost Stories of an Antiquary. Legends The most well known Floors Castle ghost story is the sighting supposedly made by the 4th Duke of Roxburghe as a boy in 1740. This ghost is believed to be of his grandmother Margaret Hay, the 1st Duchess, who disappeared in mysterious circumstances. Her ghost can be heard sobbing in the Long Gallery.

Roxburgh Castle stands on a narrow promontory between the rivers Teviot and Tweed near Kelso in the Scottish Borders, a site of dramatic natural defensibility that was one of the most important royal fortresses in medieval Scotland and the focus of repeated conflict between Scotland and England across three centuries of border warfare. The castle was one of Scotland's four great royal burghs in the medieval period alongside Edinburgh, Stirling and Berwick, a status that reflects its significance as a centre of royal administration and commerce in the heart of the Borders. The castle's history is inseparable from the long struggle over control of the Anglo-Scottish border. It changed hands repeatedly between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries, with the English holding it for extended periods and the Scots repeatedly besieging and recovering it. The final and most significant siege of Roxburgh came in 1460 when James II of Scotland was killed by the explosion of one of his own siege cannon while watching the bombardment of the castle walls. The castle was subsequently demolished by the Scots to prevent it falling back into English hands, ending its long history as one of the most contested military sites in Britain. The destruction of Roxburgh Castle in 1460 means that virtually nothing survives above ground today beyond earthworks, the outline of the promontory and a few fragments of masonry. The site is now a scheduled monument managed as an open landscape, and the drama of the location above the river confluence is the principal reward for the visit. The meeting of the Teviot and Tweed below the promontory is one of the most beautiful river landscapes in the Borders, and Kelso Abbey, one of the finest Border abbey ruins, is a short walk away. The invisibility of Roxburgh Castle above ground makes it an unusual heritage site, but the combination of its extraordinary historical significance, the evocative landscape setting and the nearby concentration of Border heritage at Kelso make it a rewarding destination for those with an interest in medieval Scottish history.

Wedderburn Castle near Duns in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, is a large eighteenth-century Palladian mansion designed by William Adam, the father of the more famous Robert Adam, and representing one of the finest examples of Scottish Palladian architecture outside Edinburgh. The castle was built for Patrick Home around 1771 and its imposing central block flanked by lower wings demonstrates the confident classical taste of the Scottish Enlightenment period. The castle is now divided into private apartments and is not generally open to the public. The Berwickshire landscape around Duns is typical of the prosperous and gently rolling agricultural character of the eastern Scottish Borders, and the town of Duns itself, with its associations with the medieval philosopher and theologian John Duns Scotus, provides the main local heritage interest.

Newark Castle near Broadmeadows in Selkirkshire, Scottish Borders, is a ruined fifteenth-century royal castle on the banks of the Yarrow Water, associated with the Douglas family and notable as the site of the execution of several hundred prisoners following the Battle of Philiphaugh in 1645. The battle, in which Covenanting forces commanded by David Leslie defeated the Royalist army of the Marquess of Montrose, ended the brilliant Royalist campaign of 1644-45 and the subsequent massacre of prisoners and camp followers at Newark was one of the more brutal episodes of the Scottish Civil War. The castle ruins in their woodland setting beside the Yarrow are a picturesque but historically sobering reminder of the violence of seventeenth-century Scottish politics. The Yarrow valley is one of the most beautiful river valleys in the Scottish Borders, associated with Scott, Hogg and the Border ballad tradition.

Hermitage Castle is now a ruined structure, situated in southern Roxburghshire, near Hermitage Water. The castle has a formidable appearance. The unusual architecture was designed to allow wooden fighting platforms to run the length of the tops of the walls. The castle is near the border with England was fought over many times. It is under the care of Historic Scotland and is open to the public in summer. The site is not easily accessible to visitors using wheelchairs or with limited mobility. It has an uneven grass surface which can get boggy and the castle has many interior steps. The present castle was begun by an English lord, Sir Hugh de Dacre, around 1360. It was transformed by his successor, William, 1st Earl of Douglas, into the formidable stronghold we see today. The castle was designed as a defensive fortress. In 1492, King James IV ordered Archibald Douglas to resign Hermitage Castle to the Crown, because he was dealing with Henry VII of England. The castle was then given to the Hepburns of Bothwell. In the 16th century gunholes were punched through the thick walls, and a gun defence built outside, to protect the western approach. After the union of the crowns in 1603 when James VI of Scotland, became James I of England also, Hermitage Castle lost its strategic importance. It was abandoned and fell into disrepair, and by the turn of the eighteenth century it was a ruin. During the 19th century the ruin was preserved by its owners, the Scotts of Buccleuch. The Castle stayed with the Scotts until 1930, when it was handed over to the state.

Hutton Castle near Chirnside in Berwickshire, Scottish Borders, incorporates medieval fabric within a building substantially rebuilt in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by William Burrell, the Glasgow shipping magnate who assembled one of the world's most remarkable private art collections. Burrell purchased Hutton Castle in 1916 and used it as both residence and repository for his extraordinary collections of medieval art, tapestries, stained glass, paintings and decorative objects, many now housed in the Burrell Collection museum in Glasgow. Sir Robert Lorimer's sympathetic remodelling created a building of considerable historical atmosphere appropriate for Burrell's medieval and Renaissance objects. The surrounding landscape of Berwickshire, with the great Border abbeys at Melrose, Jedburgh, Kelso and Dryburgh nearby, is one of the most scenically and historically rewarding parts of southern Scotland.

Duns Castlein Berwickshire is a historic house in Scotland. The the oldest part is a Norman Keep dating from 1320. The castle is available for weddings and other functions. The main Castle sleeps up to 23 with sleeping for a further 25 in ancillary buildings. Groups of up to 60 may be seated to dine in the great hall. The castle, which was built around a 14th century tower given by King Robert the Bruce to the Earl of Moray. The Scottish Covenanters rising against King Charles 1 in 1639 took place at Duns law on the estate, under General Leslie, who was quartered in the Castle. The Hay family have owned the Castle since 1696. It was transformed into a Gothic castle between 1818 and 1822 by architect James Gillespie Graham. It is owned by the current Laird, Alexander Hay of Duns and Drumelzier.

Cessford Castle is a dramatic and imposing ruin standing in the quiet farmland of the Scottish Borders, a few miles south of the market town of Kelso in Roxburghshire. It is one of the largest and most significant tower house ruins in Scotland, and its sheer scale — even in its ruinous state — commands immediate attention from anyone who comes upon it. The castle sits on a low ridge overlooking gently rolling agricultural country, its massive walls of rough-hewn dark stone rising to a considerable height despite centuries of decay and deliberate slighting. It is not a heavily visited or widely publicised site, which gives it a raw, unmediated quality that more famous ruins sometimes lack. For those who seek out castles of genuine historical weight rather than prettily restored showpieces, Cessford is a deeply rewarding destination. The castle's origins lie in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century, when it was built by the powerful Ker family, one of the most influential dynasties in the Scottish Borders. The Kers were prominent borderers whose name is inseparable from the turbulent, violent world of the Anglo-Scottish frontier — a world of reiving, feuding, and shifting political allegiances. Cessford served as the principal stronghold of the Kers of Cessford, a branch of the family distinct from the Kers of Ferniehirst near Jedburgh. The castle features prominently in the history of cross-border conflict: in 1523 it was besieged and significantly damaged by the English forces of the Earl of Surrey during one of the many punitive raids that characterised Anglo-Scottish relations in the Tudor period. Surrey's forces reportedly found it a far harder nut to crack than expected, given the extraordinary thickness of its walls, which in places measure nearly four metres. The Kers of Cessford eventually rose to become Dukes of Roxburghe, one of the great Scottish noble titles, and the family's fortunes moved on to grander residences, leaving Cessford to slowly fall into ruin. Physically, Cessford Castle is a rectangular tower house of the L-plan type, though its dimensions are unusually large for the form, which is part of what makes it so striking. The walls survive to a substantial height on several sides, and the masonry is massive and rough, giving the structure a brooding, fortress-like character that speaks directly to its military purpose. There are no pretty decorative flourishes here — this was built to withstand assault, and every aspect of its construction reflects that intent. Visiting in person, one is struck by the silence of the place, broken only by the wind moving through the grasses and the occasional cry of a crow or curlew. The stonework is darkened with age and lichen, and the interior of the ruin is open to the sky, carpeted with rough vegetation. Up close, the sheer mass of the walls is almost vertiginous, and it is easy to understand why Surrey's artillery struggled to make a quick impression on them. The landscape surrounding Cessford is quintessential Scottish Borders countryside — wide, open, and quietly beautiful, with a sense of space and a long agricultural memory embedded in the land. The rolling hills of Roxburghshire stretch away in every direction, the fields divided by hedgerows and occasional stands of trees. The village of Cessford itself is a small, modest settlement, and the castle sits near to working farmland, lending the visit an everyday, untheatrical quality that suits the place well. The broader area is rich with historical interest: Kelso, with its magnificent ruined abbey and handsome town square, is only about five miles to the north. Jedburgh Abbey and the associated Ker stronghold of Ferniehirst Castle are within easy reach to the southwest, and the whole region forms part of a landscape deeply shaped by the reiving culture of the late medieval and early modern periods. Access to Cessford Castle is straightforward and free of charge, as it is maintained by Historic Environment Scotland and can be visited at any reasonable time without an admission fee. The castle is reached via minor roads from Kelso, passing through the village of Cessford, and there is space to park near the farm in the vicinity. The walk to the ruin itself is short and relatively easy across farmland, though visitors should be prepared for uneven ground and should wear appropriate footwear. There are no visitor facilities on site — no café, no interpretive centre, no gift shop — so visitors should come self-sufficient and prepared to exercise their own curiosity and imagination. The best times to visit are the drier months between spring and early autumn, when the ground is firmer and the light is kinder, though the castle has a particular atmospheric quality on overcast days that suits its austere character well. Because the ruin is not fenced or heavily managed, visitors should exercise caution around the standing walls, which are genuinely ancient and structurally uneven in places. One of the more fascinating aspects of Cessford's story is how thoroughly it illustrates the Ker family's particular brand of borderer pragmatism and ambition. The Kers were famously associated with left-handedness — according to tradition, the family trained their sons to fight left-handed, and some accounts claim this influenced the design of staircases in Ker castles, which were said to wind in the opposite direction from convention to give left-handed swordsmen the advantage when defending from above. Whether or not this specific claim is literally true, it captures something real about the Kers' reputation as a fiercely distinctive and strategically minded family. Cessford also stands as a quiet monument to the forgotten complexity of border life — a world where loyalty, violence, kinship, and pragmatic self-interest were interwoven in ways that make simple moral narratives impossible, and where the ruins of great towers still mark the landscape like punctuation in a very long, complicated sentence.

Venlaw Castle stands above the town of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, a Victorian Gothic castellated mansion built in the nineteenth century on a hillside position that commands views across the Tweed valley and the surrounding Border hills. The building operates today as a hotel, making it one of the many Victorian baronial castles in Scotland that have found a successful second life in hospitality while preserving their atmospheric historic fabric intact. The combination of the building's architectural character, its elevated setting and the surrounding landscape of the Borders makes it a distinctive base for exploring this richly historic region. Peebles is one of the most attractive towns in the Scottish Borders, a market town on the River Tweed with a long history as a royal burgh and a relaxed, prosperous character that reflects its position at the heart of good agricultural and sporting country. The town has a good range of independent shops, restaurants and facilities and acts as a natural centre for exploring the wider Borders landscape including the Tweed valley, the Pentland Hills to the north and the open moorland country to the south toward the English border. Victorian Gothic castellated architecture of the Venlaw type represents a deliberate attempt to associate new wealth with the romantic traditions of Scottish Border history. The turrets, crowstepped gables and battlements of buildings like Venlaw were architectural quotations from the genuine medieval tower houses of the region, filtered through the sensibility of nineteenth-century romanticism as expressed by Walter Scott and his many imitators. That tradition gave the Victorian Borders a distinctive architectural character that sits surprisingly comfortably alongside the genuine medieval and early modern buildings it was designed to evoke. The grounds of Venlaw Castle include woodland and garden areas on the hillside, and the walking available directly from the property into the surrounding hill country adds a practical outdoor dimension to the atmospheric architectural setting. The Tweed valley cycling routes and the fishing on the river below the town are among the other recreational draws of the area.

Hume Castle stands as one of the most dramatically positioned fortifications in the Scottish Borders, perched atop a prominent volcanic hill that rises steeply from the surrounding agricultural plain in Berwickshire. Though today it survives largely as a striking shell and partial reconstruction, it commands extraordinary panoramic views across the Merse — the rich, flat farmland of the eastern Borders — and on a clear day the eye ranges from the Cheviot Hills in the south to the Lammermuirs in the north and even to the distant Firth of Forth. This combination of ruinous grandeur and breathtaking elevation makes Hume Castle a memorable destination for anyone with an interest in Border history, medieval fortification, or simply spectacular Scottish scenery. The site's origins stretch back to the early medieval period, with the castle most closely associated with the powerful Home family (also spelled Hume), who rose to become one of the most influential noble dynasties in Scotland during the late medieval and early modern periods. The castle served as the chief stronghold of the Lords Home, later Earls of Home, from at least the thirteenth century. Its strategic position — visible for miles in every direction — made it an invaluable watchtower and defensive position during the centuries of turbulent Anglo-Scottish conflict that defined life in the Borders. The castle played a role in the Wars of Scottish Independence and subsequent cross-border raiding, occupying a landscape that was perpetually contested, burned, and rebuilt. One of the most celebrated episodes in the castle's history came during the seventeenth century, specifically in 1651, when Parliamentary forces under Oliver Cromwell besieged and largely demolished it during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Before the fortress finally fell, its garrison keeper — a woman named Cockburn, known in local tradition as the "Countess of Home" or more often simply as the heroic defender — is said to have responded to demands for surrender with defiant verse, reportedly replying that she would hold the castle even if it meant holding it in her smock. This act of spirited defiance has been celebrated in Border folklore ever since and adds a vivid human story to the broken stonework. After the Cromwellian slighting, the castle was never fully restored as a residential fortress, though later work in the late eighteenth century by the Earl of Home gave the walls something of their present crenellated appearance, essentially constructing a romantic folly atop the original medieval foundations. In person, Hume Castle is a place of stark, austere beauty. The walls that survive are largely eighteenth-century rebuildings in the romantic castellated style, constructed of pale-grey rubble masonry, but they sit atop genuinely ancient earthworks and foundations. Standing within or beside the enclosure, the wind almost never entirely drops — this hilltop is fully exposed to the prevailing westerlies and the raw breezes that sweep across the Merse, and the sound of the wind moving through gaps in the stonework is a constant companion. The grass on the hill is cropped short by sheep, and the paths up the slope are steep enough to make the legs work. The isolation and elevation create a genuine sense of drama; looking outward from the castle walls in any direction, the sheer openness of the landscape is striking and humbling. The surrounding countryside is the agricultural heartland of Berwickshire, a quiet, understated corner of Scotland that sees far fewer visitors than the more famous Border abbeys of Melrose, Dryburgh, or Jedburgh. The village of Hume lies just below the castle hill, a small and tranquil settlement with little commercial infrastructure. The broader area is rich in Border heritage: Kelso is roughly eight miles to the south, with its own ruined abbey and the fine mansion of Floors Castle, and Greenlaw, the former county town of Berwickshire, lies only a few miles to the north. The River Eden meanders through the valley below, and the wider Merse landscape has a quiet, almost melancholy beauty that feels particularly evocative in autumn or on grey days when cloud shadows move across the fields. Visiting Hume Castle is a genuinely simple affair. There is a small car parking area at or near the base of the hill, and access to the castle has generally been freely permitted as an outdoor heritage site, though visitors should check for any current access conditions. The walk to the summit is short but steep and requires reasonable footwear, particularly in wet weather when the grass can become slippery. The castle itself is not staffed and has no visitor facilities — no café, no shop, no interpretive centre — which contributes enormously to its atmosphere of lonely, unmediated authenticity. The best times to visit are arguably spring and late summer, when the visibility tends to be sharpest and the ascent is most comfortable, though the castle in winter mist has its own particular and memorable mood. Sunrise visits, for those willing to make the early effort, reward with extraordinary views and complete solitude. A lesser-known detail that adds to the castle's fascination is its role in the broader network of Border warning beacons. Hume's hilltop position made it one of the key signal points in the chain of fire beacons that could carry news of a Scottish or English military advance across the Borders within hours — a primitive but effective early warning system that connected communities across a wide area. The hill itself is of volcanic origin, part of the geological drama that also produced the rocky outcrops of Traprain Law and Eildon Hills further afield, and its resistant igneous rock is precisely what made it such a natural defensive position for so many centuries before the first stone walls were ever built.

Neidpath Castle is situated on the river Tweed about 1 mile west of Peebles in the Borders of Scotland. It is an L-Shaped tower with rounded corners. The basement and the hall are vaulted. Neidpath features roofed battlements, a pit dungeon, a parapet walk, and an exhibition of artifacts. A pleasant way to access the castle is from Haylodge Park and follow the path along the Tweed. The castle is open to the public. An earlier castle on the site belonged to Sir Simon Fraser. The castle now standing was built by the Hays of Yester around 1370. Neidpath was known as Jedderfield Castle until the 16th century. The castle was visited by Mary, Queen of Scots in 1563, and by her son James VI in 1587. The castle was bought by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry in 1686. The castle was attacked by Oliver Cromwell and damaged by cannon fire before the occupants surrendered. Following the death of the fourth Duke of Queensberry the castle was inherited by the Earl of Wemyss and March. The tower main block and south range are still roofed, but the remainder is ruined. Neidpath still belongs to the Wemyss family. The Arts Sir Walter Scott and William Wordsworth visited the castle in 1803. Neidpath Castle was used as a location for Merlin: The Quest Begins starring Jason Connery. It was also used in the filming of The Bruce, and Joan of Arc. Legends The castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of Jean Douglas, referred to by Sir Walter Scott as ' the Maid of Neidpath', the youngest daughter of the Earl of March, William Douglas. Forbidden to marry her true love, she died of a broken heart. She is said to appear in a brown dress with a white collar.