Aberdour Castle

The barony of Aberdour was acquired in 1126 by Sir Alan de Mortimer on his marriage to Anicea, daughter of Sir John de Vipont. Alan built St Fillan's Church, which still stands beside the castle, around 1140, and his family probably raised the original hall house on the site overlooking the Dour Burn around 1200, or possibly earlier. Another Alan de Mortimer is recorded granting land to the monks of Inchcolm Abbey in 1216, but nothing further is known of the family's fate. In the early fourteenth century Robert the Bruce granted Aberdour to his kinsman Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray; Moray's grandson granted the barony in 1342 to Sir William Douglas of Liddesdale, who kept the castle for himself when he passed the lands to his nephew, Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, in 1351.

From 1386 Aberdour and Dalkeith formed a single barony, with the principal seat at Dalkeith and Aberdour as a secondary residence. James, fourth Lord Dalkeith, succeeded to the joint barony in 1456 and was created Earl of Morton in 1458, before his marriage to Joanna, the deaf-mute daughter of James I; the newly created earl heightened and rebuilt the existing hall house to suit his elevated status, and the second earl added a new stair tower and south block around 1500.

In 1538 James V summoned the 3rd Earl of Morton before the Privy Council over his unpaid feudal dues, and in 1540 banished him to Inverness; on the way, Morton signed away his lands at Brechin to his kinsman Robert Douglas of Lochleven, who was in turn compelled to resign them to the king but was permitted to keep Aberdour Castle itself. After James V's death in 1542, George Douglas of Pittendreich and the Earl of Arran helped Morton recover his lands in return for their sons marrying two of his daughters; Pittendreich's son James married the heiress Elizabeth and succeeded as 4th Earl of Morton in 1553. During the Rough Wooing, Morton's mother-in-law Katherine Stewart, dowager Countess of Morton, held Aberdour and was authorised to garrison it, her men exempted from other service, in February 1549.

Mary, Queen of Scots confirmed Morton's right to the barony in 1564. In 1566 Morton helped plan the rebellion that led to the murder of the queen's secretary David Riccio and fled to England, returning within the year; he was appointed Regent of Scotland for the young James VI in 1572 and in the 1570s rebuilt Aberdour's south block into the present central range, laying out the terraced gardens on the model of English gardens such as Hampton Court. His regency ended in 1578, and in 1581 he was executed on the young king's orders, having been implicated in the 1567 murder of Lord Darnley.

William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton, inherited Aberdour from his grandfather in 1606 and served as Treasurer of Scotland from 1630 to 1636. A firm supporter of the Stewart dynasty in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, he spent much of his fortune in the royal interest and was forced to sell Dalkeith to the Earl of Buccleuch in 1642, making Aberdour the earls' principal residence. He had built the Renaissance east wing, probably around 1635; it was certainly standing by 1647, when an inventory recorded its furniture, carpets and tapestries, and the walled garden was added in the same decade.

The castle was badly damaged by fire in 1688. In 1690 the 11th Earl consulted the architect James Smith, who surveyed the damage and drew up proposals to repair and extend the castle with a further wing, while the Earl separately sought estimates for demolishing the tower house and central range; nothing came of either scheme beyond repairs to the east range, completed in 1703.

Government troops were stationed at Aberdour during the Jacobite Rising of 1715, and during their stay a second fire caused further extensive damage. In 1725 the Mortons bought the nearby Cuttlehill House, renamed it Aberdour House, and abandoned the castle as a residence; the east range was repaired again and put to a succession of uses, including a schoolroom, a barracks and a masonic hall.

In 1924 the castle and gardens were placed in state care, and Historic Environment Scotland has managed them since as a visitor attraction, with the south-east wing now housing a cafe. The site is a scheduled monument, and its grounds are listed on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes.