Branxholme Castle is a five-storey tower at Branxholme

Branxholme

Branxholme is a village in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland, overlooking the River Teviot, three miles southwest of Hawick, on the A7 road to Langholm....

, about 3 miles south-west of Hawick

Hawick

Hawick is a town in the Scottish Borders of south east Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-southeast of Selkirk. It is one of the farthest towns from the sea in Scotland, in the heart of Teviotdale, and the biggest town in the former county of Roxburghshire. Hawick's architecture is...

 in the Borders

Scottish Borders

The Scottish Borders is one of 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It is bordered by Dumfries and Galloway in the west, South Lanarkshire and West Lothian in the north west, City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian to the north; and the non-metropolitan counties of Northumberland...

 region of Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

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History

The present castle is land owned by the Clan Scott

Clan Scott

Clan Scott is a Scottish clan. Clan Scott is not a Highland clan but Lowland, from the Borders region of Scotland. Families and clans from this area prefer to be known as Borderers instead of Lowlanders.-Origins:...

 since 1420. The Earl of Northumberland

Earl of Northumberland

The title of Earl of Northumberland was created several times in the Peerages of England and Great Britain, succeeding the title Earl of Northumbria. Its most famous holders were the House of Percy , who were the most powerful noble family in Northern England for much of the Middle Ages...

 burned the first castle in 1532. The next held out against the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 in the War of the Rough Wooing in 1547. But in due course the Scotts themselves slighted the castle in 1570, the English, under the Earl of Essex

Earl of Essex

Earl of Essex is a title that has been held by several families and individuals. The earldom was first created in the 12th century for Geoffrey II de Mandeville . Upon the death of the third earl in 1189, the title became dormant or extinct...

, finishing the job with gunpowder

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

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Within a decade Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch

Buccleuch

Buccleuch may refer to* the village of Buccleuch, Scottish Borders* Duke of Buccleuch, created in the Peerage of Scotland in 1663. The Chief of Clan Scott, and a claimant to the chieftaincy of the House of Douglas...

 had commenced the rebuilding. The Scotts were during these troubled years frequently the Wardens of the Middle March

Scottish Marches

Scottish Marches was the term used for the Anglo-Scottish border during the late medieval and early modern eras—from the late 13th century, with the creation by Edward I of England of the first Lord Warden of the Marches to the early 17th century and the creation of the Middle Shires, promulgated...

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The castle was extensively remodelled by William Burn

William Burn

William Burn was a Scottish architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of architect Robert Burn, and educated at the Royal High School. After training with the architect of the British Museum, Sir Robert Smirke, he returned to Edinburgh in 1812...

 in 1837 for the 5th Duke of Buccleuch

Duke of Buccleuch

The title Duke of Buccleuch , formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, was created in the Peerage of Scotland on 20 April 1663 for the Duke of Monmouth, who was the eldest illegitimate son of Charles II of Scotland, England, and Ireland and who had married Anne Scott, 4th Countess of Buccleuch.Anne...

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The Branksome Hall School in Toronto, Canada, is named after this castle, and has been given a replica of a mantle from the castle.

Description

Branxholme castle consists of a sixteenth century tower house of five storeys, altered and incorporated in a later mansion. There are vaulted chambers in the basement, and a newel stair.

Poetic References

Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch was the “bauld Buccleuch” of the Border Ballad

Ballad

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...

 Kinmont Willie.
Sir Walter Scott’s Lay of the Last Minstrel celebrates the success of Baron Henry of Cranston in securing the hand of Lady Margaret of Branksome Hall.