Cakemuir Castle

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Cakemuir Castle is a residential tower about 6.5 km southeast of Pathhead in the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish administrative division of Midlothian . The name may be associated with the protective function and hospitality to pilgrims on their way to Melrose Abbey . The castle is now privately owned and Historic Scotland has listed it as a Category B Historic Building.

Cakemuir Castle was built on the site of an earlier castle called Black Castle in the mid-16th century . The castle had a rectangular plan and is four stories high. Above that there is an attic with a parapet. The parapet has two recesses for guards. A series of loopholes on the fourth floor are the castle's only defensive structures.

The protruding spiral staircase tower is round and has a guard chamber with a square floor plan. This detail can also be found at Tolquhon Castle and Crossraguel Abbey ; it could symbolize sympathy for the Protestants. In the 18th century, the Wauchope family had the tower block extended to the southwest and at the end of the 19th century it was converted into a Scottish Baronial style house. In 1926, Cakemuir Castle was modernized again by Robert Rowand Anderson of Paul & Partners and restored by Neil & Hurd around 1952 . A keel-arched pavilion was recently added to accommodate a dining room and vestibules.

The wood-paneled hall called Queens Mary's Room is a reminder of Mary Queen of Scots, disguised as a page, who met James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell , at Cakemuir Castle after escaping from Borthwick Castle in June 1567 . From Cakemuir Castle she traveled to Dunbar .

The shield with the Wauchopes coat of arms on the eastern gable was once placed above the original entrance. Adam Wauchope , 5th son of Gilbert Wauchope from Niddrie Marischal House , had Cakemuir Castle built around 1564. He was a lawyer and defended the Earl of Bothwell on charges of murdering Lord Darnley . The castle belonged to the Wauchopes until 1794; then the owner at the time died.

In 1926 the castle was modernized under the direction of the architect Arthur Forman Balfour Paul .

Today the property belongs to the Douglas-Miller family . The castle has a 0.8 hectare enclosed garden with a box hedge , rhododendrons and fruit trees. The gardens are occasionally open to the public as part of the Scotland Garden Scheme .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cakemuir Castle . In: Gazetteer for Scotland . Historic Scotaldnd. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c d Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ JM Bell: The Castles of the Lothians . 1893. pp. 68-70.
  4. ^ A b Maurice Lindsay: The Castles of Scotland .
  5. ↑ Cakemuir Castle . In: Canmore . Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  6. ↑ Cakemuir Castle, Midlothian . Groves-Raines Architects. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
  7. ^ Dictionary of Scottish Architects . Entry: Balfour Paul .
  8. ↑ Cakemuir Castle . Scotland's Gardens Scheme. Archived from the original on April 6, 2016. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 12, 2011. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gardensofscotland.org

Coordinates: 55 ° 49 ′ 18.1 ″  N , 2 ° 56 ′ 25.1 ″  W.