Langton Castle is a now destroyed medieval fortress at Langton, near the burgh of Duns,

Berwickshire Berwickshire (; ) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in south-eastern Scotland, on the English border. The county takes its name from Berwick-upon-Tweed, its original county town, which was part of Scotland at the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Little remains of the structure.

History

Originally belonging to the Viponts, the castle and its estate passed to the Cockburns in 1330 upon the marriage of Sir Alexander de Cokburne and the heiress Maria de Vipont. The castle was then the

caput A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may not ...

of the Cockburns of Langton until 1745. From 1389 to 1396, Sir Alexander Cockburn of Langton was the Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland. In a dispute over succession to the estate, the castle was besieged by William Cockburn and his brother in law, David Home of Wedderburn in 1517. Antoine d'Arces, Sieur de la Bastie, the French deputy for Regent Albany, summoned Cockburn and Home to resolve the dispute. They in turn broke off the siege and ambushed Bastie near Preston, there they slew him and displayed his head at the

Mercat cross A mercat cross is the Scots language, Scots name for the market cross found frequently in Scotland, Scottish cities, towns and villages where historically the right to hold a regular market or fair was granted by the monarch, a bishop or ...

of Duns.

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

visited the castle in 1566. In 1745, Cockburn of Langton was killed at the

Battle of Fontenoy The Battle of Fontenoy took place on 11 May 1745 during the War of the Austrian Succession, near Tournai, then in the Austrian Netherlands, now Belgium. A French army of 50,000 under Maurice, comte de Saxe, Marshal Saxe defeated a Pragmatic Ar ...

and the estate was bought by a Mr David Gavin in 1758, whereafter the castle and the village of Langton were demolished to make way for a new mansion house. The villagers of Langton were relocated to the new village of Gavinton. Gavin married Lady Elizabeth Maitland, daughter of James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, their daughter Mary married John Campbell, 1st Marquess of Breadalbane whose descendant demolished the house and built a final Langton House in 1886 designed by

David Bryce David Bryce Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, FRSE FRIBA Royal Scottish Academy, RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scotland, Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David B ...

. This last house was demolished in 1950 and only a decorative gateway remains.

External links

RCAHMS Langton Castle site recordDunse history society report on Langton House
Castles in the Scottish Borders Berwickshire {{Scotland-castle-stub