Elibank Castle is a ruined fortified house dating from the late 16th century. It stands south of the

River Tweed The River Tweed, or Tweed Water, is a river long that flows east across the Border region in Scotland and northern England. Tweed cloth derives its name from its association with the River Tweed. The Tweed is one of the great salmon rivers ...

and the A72, around 3km east of

Walkerburn Walkerburn () is a small village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, on the A72 road, A72 about from Peebles and from Galashiels. It was founded in 1854 to house the workers for the tweed mills owned by the Ballantyne family. It is the h ...

in the

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by West Lothian, Edinburgh, Midlothian, and East Lothian to the north, the North Sea to the east, Dumfries and Galloway to the south-west, South Lanarkshire to the we ...

. The ruins are a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History

In 1511

King James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

granted a charter to Catherine Douglas, widow of John Liddale, and her son John Liddale, of farmland and forests at Aleburn or Eliburn, on provision that the family built a stone house, barn,

doocot A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pig ...

and cattlesheds on the land to secure it. In 1594 the house passed to Gideon Murray of Glenpoit (the neighbouring estate) who built a castle there around 1595 giving it the name Elibank. From him, the house passed to a series of

Lord Elibank Lord Elibank, of Ettrick Forest in the County of Selkirk, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1643 for Sir Patrick Murray, 1st Baronet, with remainder to his heirs male whatsoever. He had already been created a Baronet, of ...

. The building was ruinous by 1722.

Gardens

From 1603, when Gideon Murray was appointed Commissioner of Borders (being knighted for this service in 1605), linking to the

Union of Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single i ...

in 1606, a number of the more anglicised of the Scottish aristocracy, sought a more European style of life, and aspired to the fashions of England rather than Scotland. As such, the Murrays of Elibank constructed an Italianate series of terraces on three sides of the Castle, amongst the grandest in Scotland, and somewhat over-grand both for the scale of the house, and its remote rural setting. As such, these were certainly intended for the enjoyment of the occupants and visitors to the house, but never had any "tourist" value.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elibank Castle Castles in Scotland Scheduled monuments in the Scottish Borders Tweeddale