Qualla: Traquair House

Traquair House: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jimmydenham, Public domain. The Bear Gates have not been opened since 1745. They stand at the main entrance to the Traquair grounds - two stone pillars topped with carved bears - and the fifth Earl of Traquair, Charles Stuart, installed them in 1738. Seven years later, Bonnie Prince Charlie passed through them on his march south during the Jacobite rising. When he was gone, the Earl closed the gates and made a vow: they would not open again until a Stuart king sat on the throne of Britain. No Stuart king has sat on that throne since. The gates have stayed shut for 281 years. They are still shut today. The promise made in 1745 is still being kept.

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Image: Jimmydenham | Public domain

Traquair House: The Oldest House

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Clive Nicholson, CC BY-SA 2.0. Traquair claims to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland - inhabited not just standing, inhabited as in someone has lived here, unbroken, since the 12th century. The current building was built on the site of a royal hunting seat, and Alexander I (king from 1107 t...

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Image: John Clive Nicholson | CC BY-SA 2.0

Traquair House: Mary's Room

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit marsroverdriver, CC BY-SA 2.0. Mary, Queen of Scots visited Traquair in August 1566. She slept in what is now called the King's Room, and some of her possessions are still there: her rosary, her crucifix, her purse, a silk quilt, and letters bearing her signature. James VI followed his mother's path here on 9 ...

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Image: marsroverdriver | CC BY-SA 2.0

Traquair House: The Brewery Under the Chapel

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit marsroverdriver, CC BY-SA 2.0. Ale has been brewed at Traquair since at least the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1739 a 200-gallon copper was installed in the brew house under the chapel - the same equipment that, two centuries later, would form the basis of the Traquair House Brewery revival. In 1965 Peter...

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Image: marsroverdriver | CC BY-SA 2.0

Traquair House: Tam-Lin and the Maze

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit William Miller, Public domain. In 1970, the horror film Tam-Lin was filmed at Traquair. Ava Gardner played the lead. The supporting cast included a very young Joanna Lumley, Stephanie Beacham, and Ian McShane. The film, loosely based on the Border ballad of the same name, is a strange artefact of late-1960s ci...

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Image: William Miller | Public domain

Traquair House: The Stuart Line, Still Living Here

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Andy Stephenson, CC BY-SA 2.0. In 1875, Traquair passed by inheritance to Henry Constable Maxwell - a cousin of the Stuarts, descended through the female line. The family has held it ever since. Catherine Maxwell Stuart, born in 1964, became the 21st Lady of Traquair on her father's death; her 1992 portrait ha...

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Image: Andy Stephenson | CC BY-SA 2.0