Neidpath Castle

Neidpath Castle stands beside the River Tweed, one mile west of Peebles in the Scottish Borders. Built as an L-plan tower house of rubble, it has rounded corners and a roofed battlement with a balustraded sentry walk. The west wing shows damage from a 17th-century siege when artillery struck the 13th-century tower. Inside, the basement and first-floor hall are vaulted, and iron bars still guard two windows. The archway bears the goat’s-head emblem of the Hays and the Fraser strawberries. The castle has belonged to the Hay family, the Earls of Tweeddale, since the 14th century. Mary, Queen of Scots visited in 1563 and James VI in 1587. In 1650 Cromwell’s forces took the castle after its longest assault south of the Forth. The 2nd Earl planted an avenue of yews, one side of which remains. Philosophers and poets such as Adam Ferguson, William Wordsworth and Walter Scott walked these terraces. Five stone terraces lie south-east of the castle, once enclosed by a wall recorded in 1581. A summer house was added between 1682 and 1686. The castle has served as a filming location for Merlin: The Quest Begins and the series Sam and Colby. Locals speak of the ghost of Jean Douglas, the Maid of Neidpath, who appears in a brown dress with a white collar.