Wedderburn Castle

Wedderburn Castle and estate has been owned by the Home family since at least the 14th century. Mary Queen of Scotts stayed at the tower house en route to view the English defence works at Berwick. The present house was intended as a new marital home for Patrick Home, who some ten years before had built Paxton House for a girl he had hoped to marry. In the same way, Wedderburn was to be a home for his new young bride and construction started while Patrick was on his honeymoon in Europe. Designed by the famous Scottish architects, the brothers Robert and James Adam, it wrapped round the original tower house and was the first of their 'Castle Style' country houses, built at about the same time as Mellerstain. Construction lasted from 1771 to 1778, under the supervision of local architect James Nisbet, with Patrick Hume's nephew George overseeing the work. In 1773 George reported to his uncle that Wedderburn was '...light and elegant and has an appearance of extent very much beyond the real one. The octagons have a fine effect, especially on the west front, as has the circular projection to the south.', anticipating that 'Within it will be convenience itself: there it may vie with the palaces of Italy.' This was not to be, however, as the married couple never took up residence and the unfinished house passed to George. After the Foreman-Home brothers inherited it in the 1820s they demolished the original tower house, which had been left standing in the courtyard, to let more light into the Adam S wing, and employed the Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham to complete the interiors, including the fine entrance hall and double staircase, and build the porte cochere. Few other alterations were carried out and the house remains largely as the Adam brothers left it, with some significant chimneypieces including one by Piranesi (1720-78). It was category A listed in 1999 and after a succession of unsatisfacory tenants has found a sustainable use as high quality weekend accomodation for houseparties, weddings and other functions.

Although some rudimentary plumbing was added in 1897, sanitation and washing facilities for the many bedrooms originally relied on servants carrying water, hip baths and chamber pots up and down the servants' stairs. Robin Kent Architecture & Conservation has advised in the design of ensuite bathrooms, toilets, fire doors and other alterations and improvements to help the mansion remain in use, ensuring its survival on an economically sustainable basis while preserving its unique character and significance.

Click here to link to the owner's website.