Borthwick Castle

Borthwick Castle stands twelve miles south-east of Edinburgh on a hill protected by steep ground on three sides. Built in 1430 for Sir William Borthwick, it is one of Scotland’s largest and best-preserved medieval fortifications. The castle occupies the site of an earlier structure and remains the ancestral seat of the Borthwick family. Its unusual tall tower house has walls up to 14 feet thick and a U-shaped keep with projecting towers. The surrounding defensive courtyard once had round towers with shot-holes, though these have been restored. The castle played a part in Scotland’s turbulent 16th century. In 1544, Lady Isobel Lindsay Borthwick imprisoned the Earl of Bothwell there during a political struggle. Mary, Queen of Scots stayed at Borthwick twice, marrying Bothwell nearby in 1567 before a siege forced her escape disguised as a page. Cromwell’s forces attacked the castle in 1650, leaving visible cannon scars on its walls. During the Second World War it sheltered national treasures before becoming an exclusive events venue. Visitors find a double-towered keep built of fine sandstone ashlar, still largely intact. The great hall is vaulted with a painted Gothic ceiling showing the castle and ‘De Temple of Honor’. A round-headed doorway leads from the reconstructed stone bridge into the hall, above the partly subterranean kitchen and storage vaults. The battlements survive on massive corbels, though their original stepped crenellations are lost. Nearby, the parish kirk of St Kentigern holds medieval effigies of the castle’s builder and his lady.