Traquair House
Traquair House , also known as Traquair Castle , is a Scottish country estate in the Tweed Valley , around one kilometer south of Innerleithen . It is sometimes claimed to be the oldest inhabited mansion in Scotland, but this claim is difficult to verify.
history
Traquair House was initially a hunting lodge of the Scottish kings. There is evidence that King Alexander I first visited it in 1107. It then became the favorite residence of William I , where he also signed the charter for a settlement called Bishop's Burgh on the banks of the Molendinar, later Glasgow .
After several changes of ownership, it was handed over to Jakob III. 1469 to William Rogers. From this in turn it was sold to the king's uncle, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan , for 70 Scottish marks . This Traquair left his illegitimate son, James Stewart († 1513), who became the first Laird of Traquair. Maria Stuart knighted his grandson John Stewart, the fourth laird, and made him captain of the life guards. He is said to have organized her escape from Holyrood Palace to Dunbar after the murder of her favorite David Rizzio . The Queen was a guest on Traquair with Lord Darnley . John Stewart (around 1600-1659), the 7th Laird of Traquair, was raised to Earl of Traquair in 1633 . The Stewarts made numerous minor structural changes to Traquair without any major transformation of its external shape. Because of their Catholic creed, even after the end of the Stuart dynasty , the Lairds and Earls of Traquair never had the financial means to carry out extensive construction work. Also in 1688, the year of the Glorious Revolution , parts of the property and its interior were destroyed. At the death of the 8th Earl of Traquair in 1861, ownership fell in the female line to his third-degree grand-nephew Henry Constable-Maxwell (1809–1890) as the 16th Laird of Traquair, who added his name to Henry Constable-Maxwell-Stuart. Today's owner has been his great-great-granddaughter Catherine Margaret Mary Maxwell-Stuart, 21st Lady of Traquair (* 1964), since 1990.
architecture
The front of the castle presents a simple, massive, white plastered facade with only small, asymmetrically arranged windows and a steep roof. Almost the only decorations are pointed-gable roof bays and corner turrets. The oldest part of the house is a defense tower with a spiral staircase , which is unrecognizable in the appearance of the ensemble .
Inside Traquair there are murals by local painters with birds, vines and animals as motifs. Towards the end of the 17th century, the 4th Earl of Traquair had two wings added or converted to the front of the house. The resulting forecourt gives the property a certain formal rigor.
Trivia
Traquair House is considered the "bastion of Jacobite" in Scotland. Not only does the owner family maintain the Catholic faith and there is a chapel in the house , but it also houses a number of Stuart memorabilia. A rosary by Maria Stuart, her crucifix and a bedspread embroidered by her are exhibited.
Bonnie Prince Charlie is said to have taken refuge on the property, and when he the 5th Earl of Traquair took 1,745 farewell, this is to the so-called Bärentor , Steekit Yetts called, have closed. So that gate has remained closed since that day and should only be opened again when a Stuart king ascends the throne in London . In addition to these historical connections, the house has more recently become famous for the ale brewed at Traquair House Brewery .
literature
- Cristina Gambaro: Scotland. Castles and Palaces. Culture and landscape . Karl Müller, Cologne 2003, ISBN 3-89893-075-0 , pp. 56-59.
- Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Seats of Aristocracy in Scotland . Könemann, Cologne 1998, ISBN 3-8290-0404-4 , pp. 64-73.
Web links
- Site of the castle (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ H. Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Aristocratic Seats in Scotland , p. 66.
- ^ H. Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Aristocratic Seats in Scotland , p. 72.
- ↑ H. Montgomery-Massingberd: Castles and Aristocratic Seats in Scotland , p. 73.
Coordinates: 55 ° 36 '30.2 " N , 3 ° 3' 50.1" W.