Scotland · Still standing
Black Barony
Barony Castle, historically called Black Barony or Darnhall, is a country house at Eddleston in the Scottish Borders with a surviving 16th‑century tower core. The house was extended in the 18th and 19th centuries and in the 20th century became a hotel; it is a Category B listed building. The estate contains an 18th‑century underground ice house set to the north‑east of the house.
Its prime
1900
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1900
What Black Barony looked like in its prime.
A multi‑range stone country house built around the vertical core of a 16th‑century tower, its oldest masonry rising visibly through the later fabric. The principal front reflects an 18th‑century unified façade with symmetrical arrangement and later 19th‑century winged additions continuing the roofline. Roofs are pitched with multiple tall chimneys; windows are regularly spaced sash openings. The house sits within open, wooded parkland, with an ovoid, earthen‑covered underground ice house located about 100 metres to the north‑east.
Its story
The story of Black Barony.
Barony Castle at Eddleston, historically Black Barony, and earlier Darnhall, grew from a 16th-century tower house built by the Murrays of Blackbarony, whose remains form the oldest part of the building. In 1771 it passed to the Murrays of Elibank, who retained it until 1930: the 7th Lord Elibank built an ovoid underground ice house, dated 1789, a hundred metres north-east of the house, and smaller extensions followed under the 9th and 10th Lords in the late 19th century.
Extended in the 18th and 19th centuries, the house now operates as the Barony Castle Hotel and is protected as a Category B listed building. Within its grounds lies the Great Polish Map of Scotland, a large relief model of the country and the largest of its kind in Europe.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1900.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Black Barony, including 2 interiors: 16th‑century tower remnant (exterior and interior), ice house (1789), entrance and interior. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Black Barony with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1900, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Black Barony.
The families that held Black Barony for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Built by the Murrays of Blackbarony; passed to the Murrays of Elibank in 1771, who held it until 1930.
Nearby
