Borthwick Castle /Mote of Lochorwart

January 19, 200818 yr

From Canmore;

Archaeology Notes
NT35NE 1 36990 59732

(NT 3699 5973) Borthwick Castle (NR)
OS 6" map (1957)

NT 35NE 1.01 Gate-house
NT 35NE 1.02 Gateway
NT 35NE 1.03 Gate piers

NMRS REFERENCE

Borthwick Castle, built about 1430, consists of a main block with two wings on the W, and remains substantially in its original state, despite minor modern restoration. It stands within an irregularly-shaped enceinte just over 1/2 acre in extent, originally enclosed by curtain walls, surmounted by a parapet-wall and strengthened in places by circled and salient towers. Grose in 1789, shows an oblong 17th century dovecot projecting from the SE angle of the enceinte. The entrance to the enclosure is modern, but is on the site of the original gateway.
There was a mote-hill on the site, called the mote of Lochorwart, before the present structure, and at the eastern base of the promontory on which it stands, there still remains an 8-10' wide ditch, with a low outer rampart. There is now no trace of the mote-hill, it was presumably levelled when the castle was erected.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1920.

Borthwick Castle, an outstanding example of a 15th Century tower, is generally as described and planned. No trace of the dovecot survives.
The ditch and rampart at the eastern base of the promontory is now visible as a terrace averaging about 4.0m wide x 1.3m high.
Revised at 25".
Visited by OS (RD) 17 February 1970.
Architecture Notes
NT35NE 1 36990 59732

NMRS REFERENCE:

Owner: Major Borthwick of Borthwick.

NMRS Print Room:
W Schomberg Scott Photograph Collection, accession no 1997/39.
2 views of the towers.

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:
NATIONAL LIBRARY OF SCOTLAND

Uncatalogued manuscripts of General Hutton, no 26, sketch dated 1781.

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References
Amateur, An (1819 )
Scenery and antiquities of Mid-Lothian, drawn and etched by an amateur,
Edinburgh, opp p.18,
Borthwick, H (1912 )
'Borthwick Castle',
Trans Edinburgh Architect Ass, 7, 1912,
Burke, J B (1854 )
A visitation of the seats and arms of the noblemen and gentlemen of Great Britain and Ireland,
London,
Coventry, M (2001 )
The castles of Scotland
Musselburgh, 95, 3rd
Edinburgh Architectural Association (1882 )
Sketch Book 1880-81,
3, 1880-2, Edinburgh,
Forman, S (1967 )
Scottish country houses and castles,
Glasgow, 65-7,
Forman, S (1966 a)
'Borthwick Castle: the most complete 15th century tower in Scotland',
Scot Fld, 113, 761, 1966, May, 41-3,
Hannon, T (1928 )
'Famous Scottish Houses',
p37,
Hill, O (1948 b)
'Two Scottish Border strongholds: Borthwick Castle, Midlothian: Hermitage Castle, Roxburghshire',
Country Life, 104, 2687, (16 July 1948),
Lawrence, S (1995 )
Impressive cuisine is helping to lose Borthwick its 'medieval banquet' image [borthwick Castle, nescutting],
The Scotsman, 22 April 1995,
MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1887-92 )
The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries,
5v, Edinburgh, vol. 1, p.344,
Pennant, T (1776 )
A Tour in Scotland; MDCCLXXII,
2, London, vol 2, p.260,
RCAHMS (1929 )
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian,
Edinburgh, 3-8, No.3,
Ross, T (1905 g)
'Borthwick Castle',
Trans Edinburgh Architect Ass, 3, 1905, 53-60,
Strutt and Parker (1984 )
Borthwick Castle, near Edinburgh: [sale particulars],
Edinburgh,
Views in the Lothians ([n.d.] )
'Views in the Lothians',
p.22/28 & 103,
Weaver, L (1913 b)
'Borthwick Castle, Midlothian',
Country Life, 33, 856, (31 May 1913),

Archaeology Notes
NT35NE 3 368 596

Fragments of at least three Early Christian cross-shafts are known from Borthwick.
(i) The first (Royal Museum of Scotland IB 146), which bears relief carvings of two beasts and a debased key-pattern, was first published in 1889. At one time its provenance was thought to be the churchyard, but it should perhaps be identified as the stone discovered in 1886 immediately NW of the castle, which was noted on the second edition of the OS 6-inch map (NT 3697 5974 - see NT35NE 11).
(ii) The other two fragments, which are now built into the wall of Crookston House (NT 4254 5163), are thought to come from Borthwick Church, both are sculptured in relief with interlace and borders of cable moulding.
Also at Crookston House are a 15th century font and a heraldic panel, reputedly from Borthwick Parish Church.
J Anderson 1889; J R Allen and J Anderson 1903; OS 6" map, Edinburgh, 2nd ed. (1908), sheet 14; RCAHMS 1929; C L Curle 1940; RCAHMS 1988

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References
Allen and Anderson, J R and J (1903 )
The early Christian monuments of Scotland: a classified illustrated descriptive list of the monuments with an analysis of their symbolism and ornamentation,
Edinburgh, Pt.3, 421-3,
Anderson, J (1889 c)
'Notices of some undescribed sculptured stones and fragments in different parts of Scotland',
Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 23, 1888-9, 351,
Curle, C L (1940 )
'The chronology of the early christian monuments of Scotland',
Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 74, 1939-40, 111,
RCAHMS (1929 )
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian,
Edinburgh, 9, No.6; 174-5, No.249,
RCAHMS (1988 b)
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The archaeological sites and monuments of Midlothian (prehistoric to early historic), Midlothian District, Lothian Region,
The archaeological sites and monuments of Scotland series no 28, Edinburgh, 15, No.32,

Archaeology Notes
NT35NE 12 36881 59609

(NT 3688 5961) Church (NAT).
OS 6" map (1957)

St Mungo's Church, a small inornate Norman structure, stood till 1775, when it was burned down; a new church was then erected a few yards away. This was in use till 1864, when the present church was built incorporating fragments of the 12th century apse and S wall of the chancel and the 15th century vestry, now the Dundas burial vault, and S transcept, belonging to the original church.
The church is first mentioned when King David I granted it to Scone Priory. It was subsequently given to Glasgow c.1150, but it had become an independent rectory by 1299. In the 15th century it was made a prebend of the collegiate church of Crichton, then in 1596 it was dissociated from Crichton and restored as a parish church.
RCAHMS 1929, visited 1915; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1897

As described. Still in use for public worship.
Visited by OS (RD) 18 February 1970

See also NT35NE 3.
Architecture Notes
NMRS REFERENCE
Restored by Glenternie Family, possibly by Bruce. (Information from Mr Gibb)

EXTERNAL REFERENCE
Register House
Heritors Records for Borthwick Parish
Plan of new church in letter from T Brown, 1862
Plan for building a church 1776 contains plan and elevation
Drawing of ruin of church sgd. RD1854
Plan of ruin of old church 1860
Drawing by T. Beaumont Stoeter 1815

xiv SE
Vita Kent. cap.xli; Liber de Scon, passim.
Reg. Epis Glas., No.11; Cal of Docts, ii, 208;
Ib. No. 1104;

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References
Amateur, An (1819 )
Scenery and antiquities of Mid-Lothian, drawn and etched by an amateur,
Edinburgh, 19,
Bickerton, T A (1912 )
'Borthwick Church'
Trans Edinburgh Architect Ass, 7, 1912,
Fawcett, R (2002 )
Scottish medieval churches: architecture and furnishings,
Stroud, 133, 305, 318,
MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1896-7 )
'The ecclesiastical architecture of Scotland from the earliest Christian times to the seventeenth century',
3v, Edinburgh, 214-18,
RCAHMS (1929 )
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Tenth report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the counties of Midlothian and West Lothian,
Edinburgh, 1, No.1,
Ross, T (1905 f)
'Borthwick Church',
Trans Edinburgh Architect Ass, 3, 1905,