Elibank Castle

Elibank Castle is a ruined fortified house dating from the late 16th century. It stands south of the River Tweed and the A72, around 3km east of Walkerburn in the Scottish Borders. The ruins are a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[1]

In 1511 King James IV granted a charter to Catherine Douglas, widow of John Liddale, and her son John Liddale, of farmland and forests at Aleburn or Eliburn, on provision that the family built a stone house, barn, doocot and cattlesheds on the land to secure it. In 1594 the house passed to Gideon Murray of Glenpoit (the neighbouring estate) who built a castle there around 1595 giving it the name Elibank. From him, the house passed to a series of Lord Elibank. The building was ruinous by 1722.^[2]

From 1603, when Gideon Murray was appointed Commissioner of Borders (being knighted for this service in 1605), linking to the Union of Crowns in 1606, a number of the more anglicised of the Scottish aristocracy, sought a more European style of life, and aspired to the fashions of England rather than Scotland. As such, the Murrays of Elibank constructed an Italianate series of terraces on three sides of the Castle, amongst the grandest in Scotland, and somewhat over-grand both for the scale of the house, and its remote rural setting. As such, these were certainly intended for the enjoyment of the occupants and visitors to the house, but never had any "tourist" value.^[3]