Dalhousie Castle

Dalhousie Castle stands on a ridge above the River Esk in Midlothian, eight miles south of Edinburgh. The red-stone building began as a Norman stronghold in the 12th century when Simundus de Ramesie, an English knight, built the first fortress here. The oldest surviving part is the drum tower, raised in the mid-15th century as part of an L-plan castle. Most of the present walls and towers date from the 17th century, when the Earls of Dalhousie enlarged the residence. A dry moat once surrounded the castle; it was filled in long ago but partly dug out again late in the 20th century. The castle has been at the centre of Scottish history for centuries. King Edward I stayed overnight on his way to meet William Wallace at Falkirk in 1298. In 1400 Sir Alexander Ramsay held the castle against a six-month siege led by Henry IV’s forces. Oliver Cromwell later used it as a base for his invasion. The Ramsay chiefs led the clan from Dalhousie for more than eight hundred years, longer than any other Scottish family. The walled garden was redesigned around 1800 by Walter Nicol, and the castle became a hotel in 1972 after decades as a school and private home. Inside, visitors walk through oak-panelled corridors and vaulted chambers that still show scars from the 2004 fire. The drum tower offers wide views across the Esk valley. The hotel occupies the main block and the 17th-century wings, while the spa occupies part of the old service court. The dry moat walk, now grassed, lets guests stroll where archers once stood. Beyond the walls, the Midlothian hills rise gently, and the river bends below the castle’s southern slope.