Scotland Traquair House, Scottish Borders

Traquair House is the oldest inhabited house in Scotland. The family had close connections to the Stuart royal family and Traquair has been visited by 27 Scottish Kings and Queens.

There are records of a building here by 1107 which was used as a royal hunting lodge in the middle of the vast Ettrick Forest where wild cat, wolves, deer, wild boar and bears could be hunted. The bear was chosen to support the family coat of arms. The lodge was also used as a base where they could administer justice, issue laws and hold courts.

In the late C13th during the Wars of Independence between Scotland and England, Traquair became one of the many fortified towers or peles along the banks of the Tweed. When the alarm was raised they could communicate to each other by lighting a beacon at the top of the tower and alert the neighbours of an English invasion. Cattle could be kept on the ground floor for safe keeping during times of trouble.

In 1491, the house passed to James Stuart, an uncle of who became the First Laird of Traquair. It has been owned by the family since then.

The pele tower was extended in the 1500s by adding the central block.

The Lairds of Traquair were at the centre of political power and Mary Queen of Scots visited Traquair in 1566.

The 7th laird who became the First Earl, was Lord High Treasurer for Charles I and his Commissioner of Scotland. He added the top storey to the house, increased the estate and diverted the River Tweed so it ran further away from the buildings.

The two wings were added in 1694.

A double terrace with roofed pavilions at either end and a formal garden were laid out at the back of the house.

The family remained loyal to the Catholic faith and James II in exile, supporting the Jacobite cause. The 4th Earl was imprisoned twice.

The Bear Gates were installed at the top of the long avenue leading to the house in 1738.

According to legend, these were closed and locked following a visit by Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1745, with the 5th Earl vowing they would not be reopened until a Stuart monarch was restored to the throne. They remain closed...

As Catholics and unable to hold office or serve in the armed forces, the family were beset by financial problems. Debts piled up and large parts of the estate were sold off.

The Earldom died out with the death of the 8th Earl in 1861. The house passed to a cousin who added Stuart to the surname. They had little money to modernise the house. By the mid C20th the house was in poor condition. The roof needed urgent repair and the library on the top floor was at risk. The house opened to the public for two afternoons a week.

The house is now run as a charitable trust and is open six days a week, although it still remains a well loved family home. The remains of the C18th brew house were found in the grounds and now produces three different ales. There are craft workshops in grounds. B&B accommodation is provided in the house which also hosts weddings and private functions.

19 of the 50 rooms are now open to the public.

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[Eleanor]

Traquair House - ground floor rooms

The main entrance leads to the Entrance hall. The locked door off this was the porter's lodge where he lived and slept. The main spiral staircase built when the house was extended in the 1500s leads off this. The lovely carved door at the bottom is dated 1601.

A flagged passage way to the left leads to the vaulted cellars in the original pele.

These were used for storage and also animals were brought in here for safe keeping during times of trouble. The first cellar was used as a store room and dairy.

The second has a short video about the history of the house.

The servants bells are high on the wall of the passageway to the right which leads into the 1500s house. Each had a different sound so servants could quickly identify where they needed to go.

On the wall is a framed copy of warrant signed by Elizabeth I for the for execution MaryQueen of Scots.

In the 1700s, the Still Room was was used as a parlour and had a doorway leading out onto the terrace and gardens below. It still has views across the maze, planted in 1981, and the gardens at the back of the house.

In the 1800s, this was the housekeeper’s room with rooms off for stores and preserves and silverware. It is now used as a breakfast room by B&B guests and has display cabinets with china.

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[Eleanor]

Traquair House - first floor rooms

There are three main rooms on the first floor; High Drawing Room, Dressing Room and the King’s bedroom. These are quite narrow rooms stretching across the width of the house with windows overlooking both front and back.

The High Drawing Room was the largest room in the main house and would originally have had painted beams and walls. It was redesigned by the 5th Earl in a more classical style with painted panels above the doors representing Music, Drama and Architecture, all popular themes of the Scottish Renaissance. The harpsichord was made in Angtwerp in 1651 and can still be played.

At the far end are two doors. One leads into the dressing room. The other into a short corridor straight to the King’s Bedroom. This could be used as an antechamber for those wanting to enter the King's Bedroom.

The Dressing Room is in the oldest part of the house, with hip bath, bidet, hot water cans, slop basin, washstand and copper bed warmer. Bathrooms were not installed into the house until 1922

To the left of the fireplace, is a small concealed cupboard which functioned as a safe and was also used to hide valuables, particularly in the 1600s when the house was subject to searches because of the familiy's Roman Catholic religion.

The King’s Bedroom was where the kings and queens of Scotland stayed when they came on hunting trips. Mary Queen of Scots slept here when she visited in 1566. He baby son slept in the wooden cradle.

The crucifix on the bedside table belonged to Mary.

The cupboard with a glazed door was a powder closet.

In the corner is the original spiral staircase.

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[Eleanor]

Traquair House - second floor rooms

Above the King’s Room is the Museum Room. The hunting mural on the wall dates from around 1530 and was discovered under a wallpaper in the 1900s.

This room originally was probably the great hall used for entertaining but later became a lumber room storing items no longer used by the family. Many of these are now on display.

There are examples of C17th embroidered hangings. Others embroideries were designed to be cut out and sewn onto bedhangings as decoration. were

There is a rosary and crucifix belonging to Mary Queen of Scots as well as examples of Jacobite glassware.

There is a set of Napier’s Bones. John Napier was a Scottish mathematician. The ‘bones’ were a set of rods marked with numbers and their multiples. Complex multiplications could be done easily by reading off sets of numbers. He then went on the invent logarithms.

There is also an example of an Armarda chest dating from around 1600. It had a complicated locking system with eight latch bolts operated by a half turn of a key as well as two hasps on the front for a padlock. For additional security it also had a small lockable compartment inside.

The other rooms on this floor were used as guest bedrooms.

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[Eleanor]

Traquuair House - third floor rooms

The Doll Collection is displayed in the old nursery. There are over 60 dolls dating from 1840-1900s, as well as a Georgian doll's house.

The First Library has been restored to its original appearance. It was created by the 4th and 5th Earls at the start of the C18th and contains about 3000 books. The books were specially bound and catalogued according to author, being placed beneath the correct portrait on the ceiling above. The letters are an abbreviation for the author. The first number indicates shelf with the second number being the position on the shelf. This room was also used as the school room and over the fireplace is a school room scene painted by a local artist.

Next to it is the Second Library containing a further 1800 books which are mainly C18th and C19th. Some of the extensive collection of family archives are in display in here.

The Priests’ Room is in the original pele tower and was used as a secret chapel from the C17th until 1829, when the Roman Catholic religion and the saying of mass were banned. The altar would have been hidden in a wall recess. A resident priest lived in hiding in this room. As well as taking services, he also taught the children. The room is furnished much as it might have been in the early C19th.

The cupboard to the left of the fireplace was lined with shelves but had a false back. This gave access to the old spiral staircase and could be used as an escape route.

The plain white vestments displayed in the guardrobe off the bedroom were made cleverly made from quilted bedcovers and could be used as such in case of a raid looking for a Catholic priest.

In a display cupboard are examples of books and vestments used by the Catholic priest.

Also on display is a C19th chasuble decorated with with Pre-Reformation embroidery dating from about 1500.

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[Eleanor]

Traquair House - the wings

The visit finishes in the wings added at the end of the C17th.

WEST WING

The Dining Room is decorated much as it might have appeared in the C19th. It is still used by the family on formal occasions.

The hand blocked wallpaper is French and was chosen at the Great Exhibition in 1851. On the walls are family portraits, including that of the First Earl who was Commissioner for Scotland under Charles to his left is the 5th Earl who closed the Bear Gates after Bonnie Prince Charlie. The silver punch bowl on the table was used for family Christenings. On the sideboard is a collection of pewter plates as well as three cutlery boxes.

The kitchens would have been on the far side of the dining room and the servant’s bells can still be seen in the corridor.

Leading off the Dining Room is the Lower Drawing Room where the ladies would retire after dinner when the men passed the port round the table. It was also used to take tea in an afternoon. The room is now used as a sitting room by people staying in the B&B accommodation,

The rooms beyond are not open but contained offices.


EAST WING

This wing was originally the coach house, stables and brewhouse.

The billiards room was turned into a Chapel in 1829 after the Catholic Emancipation Act was passed allowing Roman Catholics freedom to worship in public. At the time it was the only Catholic chapel in the area and Catholics came here for marriages and Christenings until Catholic churches were built in Peebles and Innerleithen.

Servants and estate workers sat in the pews with the family at the back behind the screen.

The white marble alter is made of Italian marble and has scenes from the Passion of Christ.

The lovely carved wood stations of the Cross are C16th. They were originally in a chapel used by Mary Of Guise, mother of Mary Queen of Scots.

The kneelers were embroidered to celebrate the 900th anniversary of Traquair House.

Next to the chapel is the Brewery Shop. The original brewery is under the chapel. Dating to the early C16th, it brewed ale for the family and estate workers. By the early 1800s, duty payments along with an increase in commercial breweries meant it was no longer economic to brew ale here. The brewery was left disused and forgotten.

Peter Maxwell Stuart rediscovered the brewery in the early 1960’s and began brewing again (with help from Belhaven Brewery) using the original equipment and fermenting the ales in the original oak tuns. The brewery became recognised as a pioneer of microbrewing and now exports its bottled beer across the world.

On the upper floor of the East wing is the Laundry Museum.

Laundry was a major job for a household of this size. There are examples of washing dollys mangles, and irons.

There were also wooden shapes designed to prevent woollen garments from shrinking and loosing their shape when drying.

The Gift Shop is beyond the brewery shop.

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[Eleanor]

Traquair House - the grounds

The are no formal gardens, but the house is surrounded by a large estate of open woodland with craft workshops.

The walled garden next to the cafe is now mainly grassed over with a few surviving apple trees along with a herbaceous border and small pond and fountain.

The maze at the rear of the house was originally an C18th parterre garden and was planted with beech trees in the early 1980s. and is the largest hedged maze in Scotland. Visitors must reach all the four sub centres before finding the centre.