The Castles of Clan Home

It would be impossible to talk about clan Home’s castles without mentioning the great Hume castle. Since the 13th century, this castle has dominated the landscape between the river Tweed and Lammermuir Hills. So let’s go back to the beginning, the lands of Hume, or Home, were first granted as a dowry to Ada who was the daughter of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar in 1214, when she married her first husband, William de Courtney. He died in about 1217 and two years later married Theobald de Lascelles who also died. She then married her cousin, William, son of Patrick of Greenlaw (not far from here you can find the little town of Greenlaw) who is the descendant of many great kings such as William the Loin and King Aethelred, the Dane slayer. He assumed, in her right, the name of Home.

After I visited the castle myself, the importance of this castle became apparent. You can see far and wide which meant no victorious army could afford to risk the recapture of such a valuable strategic position. This was evident after the Battle of Flodden, when the castle fell into the regent of Scotland's hands when the Lord Home was falsely accused of plotting against the infant James V and the Regent Albany and was later killed. Whilst Lord Hume's plot to kill the Regent was false, his son's plot was definitely real. The now lord Hume chased the deputy regent to Duns where they cut his head off and left it in Duns Market Cross and regained his family's castle!

The fortunes of this castle soon changed under the reign of Mary Queen of Scots. The Hume's were initially against her, even signing the order for her imprisonment. The Lord soon changed his mind and even became one of her supporters with the Queen enjoying the hospitality of the castle on her final journey to England in 1567. Lord Home joined her loyal garrison at Edinburgh castle, but they were quickly defeated and later killed. Soon after, the end for the original Hume castle was here as Oliver Cromwell arrived and destroyed the castle so no clan could use it as a stronghold again.

Luckily in the 18th century, the then Lord of the Home rebuilt the castle as a folly to be later used as a warning station during the Napoleonic Wars. Soon came 1804 when a sergeant in the Berwickshire Volunteers was on watch and in the midst of night he saw charcoal burners, and in panic, he ordered that the great fire be lit. Soon came 3000 brave Scots men ready to face the short but dominant king but he never arrived... Hume castle still stands to this day and is open for visitors, so I would definitely recommend a visit!

Hirsel house has been home of the Lords of Clan Home since the 17th century. This majestic estate is just North of the river Tweed in Coldstream was built by Clan Kerr in the 16th century. It took until 1621 for the Home’s to be granted the estate by King James VI.

Since then, the house has been host to Hume war heroes, Prime Ministers, bird watchers and so much more which you can learn more about here. Generation after generation of the Home family has continued to grow and support the wildlife within the estate. With their love for wildlife, they built Hirsel Lake in 1785 which now forms part of the Hirsel country park. The Lords of Hirsel have continued to create beautiful gardens building a walled garden, woodland gardens and even a manmade lake with the help of Scotland’s most renowned architects William Burn and David Bryce.

This lake was also made famous within the birdwatching community with the lake being host to over 170 species which were all documented by Henry Douglas-Home AKA “the Birdman". Another interesting part of this body of water is something you have probably noticed... Its a lake, not a loch making it one of few bodies of water named a lake within Scotland.

Now to the castle that is less than 10 minutes from our office here in Duns, Wedderburn castle! Clan Wedderburn controlled these lands until 1413 when the lands were given to the Home's and so to the Home's of Wedderburn were born.

Despite being handed these lands, the Home's of Wedderburn were not without their trials and tribulations with all of their first-born children born between 1413 to 1576 dying in battle. As was life within the borders at this time, the family were constantly at war. This precarious time in the family’s history was even noted by Sir Walter Scott naming the children of the family ‘the Seven Spears of Wedderburne’ whilst depicting the battle of Flodden. During this battle, Sir David Home of Wedderburn and the eldest son were killed and their lands were taken off them.

In the modern day, this castle has a much more joyous day to day life. Since 2010 this castle has been used for weddings and other large events. The castle in current construction was built in the 1770s by Scotland's greatest ever architect, Robert Adam. Today the castle is famed for the fantastic staircases taken from Georgian influence as well as the 52 windows that face the front of this wonderful venue. Our favourite fact about Wedderburn Castle is that it has 365 windows, one for every day of the year and if you want to learn more about this beautiful castle click here!

Now to a castle that is not as commonly linked with the Home clan, Douglas castle and estate. The Douglas story and the family’s stewardship of this estate goes back nearly 1,000 years to William Douglas. Who in 1174 was said to have taken from the “Douglas Water” and started the Black Douglas clan.

Fun little fact here, the Douglas’s were named the Black Douglas’s after the “Good” James Douglas. James fought alongside Robert the Bruce when he was defeated at the Battle of Methven in 1306, then he returned to the south of Scotland where he attacked his own castle at Douglas three times, leaving it completely destroyed the third time. James was now a master of guerrilla warfare and soon became the bogeyman of Northern England. The English were so afraid of him that they created a lullaby stating “Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye. Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye. The Black Douglas shall not get ye”.

Anyways, back to the estate. The estate survived the turbulent time of the Scottish wars of Independence, but their fortunes suddenly changed. William Douglas, the 8th Early of Douglas, visited Rome for the Popes Jubilee. But when he returned King James II had destroyed his lands and had summoned him to Stirling. Once at Stirling the King stabbed him and threw him out the window. The Douglas clan still held the land but lost all prominence compared to the red Douglas's. The Douglas clan and the Home clan were the most dominant clans in the borders of Scotland so in 1832 when the clans joined through marriage, they became one of the strongest families in Scotland.