Skulferatu #67 - Newbyres Castle, Gorebridge, Midlothian

There are many castles in Scotland that are now not much more than a few stones.  Newbyres Castle is one of these.  There is not much left of it now, and its glory days are long gone.  It is now no more than two sides of a low wall and a bramble covered mound standing in a small wildlife garden by the village of Gorebridge.  However, back in its heyday the castle was a substantial and rather picturesque tower house. 

 

The rather unimpressive remains of Newbyres Castle

 

Part of the outside walls of Newbyres castle

 

Part of the outside walls of Newbyres Castle

 

This bramble covered mound covers the area where the castle once stood

 

Newbyres Castle was built in the mid-16^th Century for Michael Borthwick of Glengelt.  He had acquired the land in 1543 from James Haswell, the Abbot of the abbey at Newbattle.  The castle was built as an L shaped tower with a courtyard around it.  It had a vaulted ground floor and numerous gun loops on the upper floors.  From his new, fortified home, Borthwick oversaw his coal mining operations in the area. 

 

In 1624 the castle was sold to Sir James Dundas of Arniston, who was the Governor of Berwick.  After his death, the house became the main residence of his widow Mary Hume, Lady Arniston.  She had a reputation locally as a very hospitable host and on one occasion a guest of hers was prosecuted for drunkenness after being a bit rowdy and potty mouthed while making his way home.  The charge against him was later found ‘Not Proven’.  Nowadays, we might look back at the goings on in Newbyres Castle and see it as a bit of a ‘party house’.  The 17^th Century equivalent of the house on the street that at weekends always has music pounding out until the early hours of the morning with lots of inebriated people coming and going.

 

A sketch of Newbyres Castle as it would have been in its heyday

 

A sketch of the ruins of Newbyres Castle from The Arniston Memoirs

 

A sketch of the ruins of the castle circa 1879

 

At some point the castle was abandoned as a home and was left to decay and crumble away.  A large part of the tower, including the staircase collapsed in 1881.  In 1963 most of the remaining walls were demolished by Midlothian Council due to fears for public safety.

 

On a walk that took me through Gorebridge, I stopped off at the remains of the castle.  I walked to the top of the pile of overgrown rubble and wondered if I zoomed back to a few hundred years ago, what room I’d be standing in, and who would be there?  Maybe I’d bump into Lady Arniston, and she would offer me a nip of something nice to drink.  On a cold day like today, it would be most welcome.

 

I left a Skulferatu in a gap in the remaining chunk of the castle walls.

 

Skulferatu #67

 

Skulferatu #67 in a gap in the castle walls

 

Skulferatu #67 in a gap in the castle walls

 

Skulferatu #67 in a gap in the castle walls

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #67

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.84185

Longitude -3.048500

 

I used the following sources for information on the castle –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century

Volume Three

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1889

(Sketches – Fig. 477 & Fig. 478)

 

Newbyres Castle: The Story So Far

https://gorebridge.org.uk/heritage/newbyres-castle-the-story-so-far/

 

The Arniston Memoirs, Three Centuries of a Scottish House, 1571-1838

By George W T Omond

1887

(Sketch of Newbyres Tower)

 

Public Information Board at Site