Qualla: Borthwick Castle

Borthwick Castle: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Trish Steel, CC BY-SA 2.0. The walls are fourteen feet thick at the base. The keep rises ninety feet from the ground - taller than most cathedral naves of its era - and it is built as a strange U-shape, two slightly asymmetrical towers reaching up from a connecting block with a twelve-foot gap between them at the top. When Sir William Borthwick got the licence to build here on 2 June 1430, he was doing something unusual: most Scottish nobles never bothered to ask the king for permission before fortifying their houses. Borthwick asked. King James I said yes. What got built afterwards is one of the largest and best-preserved medieval fortifications in Scotland, and it has been standing on its hilltop in Midlothian, watching the centuries pass, ever since.

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Image: Trish Steel | CC BY-SA 2.0

Borthwick Castle: The Builder's Bargain

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter van der Wielen, CC BY-SA 3.0. William Borthwick acquired most of the Mote of Locherwart from his neighbour William Hay, who - the chronicles say - resented selling and was jealous of the castle that would rise on land that had been his. The site itself was already old: there had been an earlier structure here...

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Image: Peter van der Wielen | CC BY-SA 3.0

Borthwick Castle: Lady Borthwick and the Kidnapped Earl

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bob Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0. In September 1544 John, 5th Lord Borthwick was captured by George Douglas of Pittendreich and held at Dalkeith Castle. His wife, Isobel Lindsay, did not wait for diplomacy. She invited Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, to visit Borthwick - and then imprisoned him. He was hel...

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Image: Bob Smith | CC BY-SA 2.0

Borthwick Castle: Mary's Escape

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit R. W. Billings, Public domain. Mary, Queen of Scots came to Borthwick in August 1563 and again in October 1566. Then, on 15 May 1567, she married James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell - a controversial match almost everyone in Scotland opposed. Within weeks the new couple were under siege at Borthwick by Lord Ho...

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Image: R. W. Billings | Public domain

Borthwick Castle: Cromwell's Cannons

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Engraving by P Mazell, Public domain. In 1650 Oliver Cromwell's forces attacked the castle as part of the campaign that followed the Battle of Dunbar. Borthwick surrendered after only a few cannon shots - the defenders apparently recognising that resistance against modern artillery was futile - and the damage from th...

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Image: Engraving by P Mazell | Public domain

Borthwick Castle: An Inhabited Ruin

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sourav Niyogi, (WT-en) P.K.Niyogi at English Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1973 the Borthwick family leased the castle to operators who converted it into an exclusive private-hire venue. From 2013 to 2015 it closed for extensive refurbishment, reopening as an events venue in September 2015. Today, panoramic views of the castle can be seen from passen...

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Image: Sourav Niyogi, (WT-en) P.K.Niyogi at English Wikivoyage | CC BY-SA 4.0