Wedderburn Castle | |
---|---|
Former names | Wedderburn House |
General information | |
Type | ashlar |
Architectural style | Adam style |
Address | TD11 3LT |
Town or city | 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Duns, Berwickshire |
Country | Scotland |
Coordinates | 55°46′07″N2°18′25″W / 55.768638°N 2.306979°W |
Construction started | 1768–69, incorporating 15th century tower house; James Nisbet, 1770–1775 [1] |
Completed | later alterations, including demolition of surviving parts of tower house (to NE) during early 19th century [1] |
Owner | David Home Miller |
Governing body | Private |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 3 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Robert and James Adam |
Website | |
wedderburn-castle |
Wedderburn Castle, near Duns, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, is an 18th-century country house that is now used as a wedding and events venue. [2] The house is a Category A listed building [1] and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. [3]
Wedderburn Castle is the historic family seat of the Home of Wedderburn family, cadets of the Home family (today Earls of Home). It was designed and constructed 1771–1775 by the famous architect brothers Robert Adam and James Adam, with the work superintendent being architect James Nisbet of Kelso, for Patrick Home of Billie, who had already completed Paxton House (using James Adam and Nisbet from 1758, with Robert Adam doing the interiors c. 1773). With battlemented three-storey elevations in the typical Adam Castle style, the apparent symmetry of Wedderburn Castle conceals a rectangular courtyard, originally filled by the 17th-century (or earlier) tower house, also known as Wedderburn Castle, of which only a heraldic panel remains. It was demolished in the early 19th century, leaving the courtyard accessed through an archway at the back.
The castle is approached by way of the north or Lion Gate of 1794 designed by John Plaw and the long drive (leading from the West gate), which passes the 18th-century stables (a square court entered through a pedimented archway) and the stables cottages, before continuing to the castle. The former stables building is now used as a barn wedding and events venue.
The West Gate is another archway, but defined by screen walls and gabled lodges.
Entering the front of the castle through a large porch (above which is the Home of Wedderburn coat of arms), there is a double staircase with an iron balustrade leading up to a balcony, behind which is a long gallery connecting the drawing room and the dining room. Across the hall and above the front door is a long minstrel gallery, again connecting the drawing room and the dining room. On the right of the staircase are the drawing room, and the morning room (previously the smoking room), beyond which is the ballroom. There are several fine chimneypieces, the best being in the drawing room of white Carrara marble and various other materials [4] by Piranesi from 1774. To the left are the dining room, and a further staircase leading up to the bedrooms. The ground floor has a large kitchen and further bedrooms.
The Earls of Douglas had the feudal superiority of the lands of Wedderburn circa 1413, when Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas granted them as a feu to "his esquire, David de Home". In a charter dated at Dunbar Castle 29 February 1413, George de Dunbar, Earl of March, confirmed the previous charter granted by "his beloved brother, Archibald, Earl of Douglas", the superiority having passed, by forfeiture, from the Dunbar family to Douglas. [5]
By 1550 the Homes had acquired the superiority of Wedderburn, as is indicated by a Sasine in favour of David Home, brother-german (full brother) and heir of George Home of Wedderburn (who was killed at the Battle of Pinkie), wherein it is stated that the heir and his brother held it of the Crown in chief. [6]
Mary, Queen of Scots came to Wedderburn Castle in November 1566 and rode to Halidon Hill. She met John Foster, Marshal of Berwick. [7]
Daughters of this branch of the Home family would keep Home and add it to their married name – hence subsequent generations of the family having variations including Forman Home, Milne Home, Home Robertson, and Home Miller. From 1898 until 1973, Wedderburn was let to the Arbuthnots. From 1973 until 2010 it was owned by Georgina Home Robertson. [4] The current owners are David Home Miller and Catherine Macdonald-Home.
Robert Adam was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his older brother John, Robert took on the family business, which included lucrative work for the Board of Ordnance, after William's death.
Paxton House is a historic house at Paxton, Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders, a few miles south-west of Berwick-upon-Tweed, overlooking the River Tweed.
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Patrick de Dunbar, 9th Earl of March, was a prominent Scottish magnate during the reigns of Robert the Bruce and David II.
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Crichton Castle is a ruined castle near the village of Crichton in Midlothian, Scotland. It is situated at the head of the River Tyne, 2 miles (3.2 km) south of the village of Pathhead, and the same distance east of Gorebridge.
Clan Home is a Scottish clan. It held immense power for much of the Middle Ages and dominated the eastern Scottish Borders. It produced no fewer than eight Wardens of the Eastern March – more than any other family.
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Hume Castle is the heavily modified remnants of a late 12th- or early 13th-century castle of enceinte held by the powerful Hume or Home family, Wardens of the Eastern March who became successively the Lords Home and the Earls of Home. The village of Hume is located between Greenlaw and Kelso, two miles north of the village of Stichill, in Berwickshire, Scotland.. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, recorded as such by Historic Environment Scotland.
Coldingham Priory was a house of Benedictine monks. It lies on the south-east coast of Scotland, in the village of Coldingham, Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor King Edgar of Scotland had granted the land of Coldingham to the Church of Durham in 1098, and a church was constructed by him and presented in 1100. The first prior of Coldingham is on record by the year 1147, although it is likely that the foundation was much earlier. The earlier monastery at Coldingham was founded by St Æbbe sometime c. AD 640. Although the monastery was largely destroyed by Oliver Cromwell in 1650, some remains of the priory exist, the choir of which forms the present parish church of Coldingham and is serviced by the Church of Scotland.
Dundas Castle is a 15th-century castle, with substantial 19th-century additions by William Burn, in the Dalmeny parish of West Lothian, Scotland. The home of the Dundas family since the Middle Ages, it was sold in the late 19th century and is currently the residence of politician and businessman Sir Jack Stewart-Clark. The tower house and the adjoining Tudor-Gothic mansion are listed separately as Category A buildings, and the grounds are included in Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
Marchmont House lies on the east side of the village of Greenlaw, and near to a church in Polwarth in Berwickshire, in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. It is about five miles south west of Duns, about 19 miles (31 km) west of Berwick-upon-Tweed and about 40 miles (64 km) south east of Edinburgh. Situated in a gently undulating landscape, the estate is intersected by Blackadder Water, and its tributary burns. With the Lammermuir Hills to the north and views towards the Cheviot Hills in the south, this part of Berwickshire, sometimes referred to as the Merse, is scenic and contains rich agricultural land.
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Sir George Home of Wedderburn was briefly Comptroller of the Scottish Exchequer in the household to James VI of Scotland.