Harden Castle is a 16th century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

, about west of

Hawick Hawick ( ; sco, Haaick; gd, Hamhaig) is a town in the Scottish Borders council area and historic county of Roxburghshire in the east Southern Uplands of Scotland. It is south-west of Jedburgh and south-south-east of Selkirk. It is one of ...

Scottish Borders The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lothi ...

.Coventry, Martin (2001). ''The Castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. p. 199 It is alternatively known as Harden House or Harden Tower. The castle is situated strongly, above a deep ravine.

History

The castle, which succeeds an earlier tower which was destroyed about 1590, belonged to the

Homes A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

, but was purchased by the

Scotts Scotts or Scott's may refer to: Businesses and brands *Scott's (restaurant), in London *Scott's Food & Pharmacy, an American supermarket chain *Scotts Miracle-Gro Company, an American multinational corporation *Scott's Porage Oats, a Scottish bre ...

in 1501.

Walter Scott of Harden Walter Scott of Harden (1550 – 1629), also known as Auld Wat, was a notorious border reiver along the Anglo-Scottish border in the 16th century. Life The son of William Scott of Harden, Wat was born in 1550, when he was recognised as his ...

, known as Auld Wat of Harden, was one of family. He was a

Border Reiver Border reivers were raiders along the Anglo-Scottish border from the late 13th century to the beginning of the 17th century. They included both Scottish and English people, and they raided the entire border country without regard to their v ...

, who married Mary, or Marion, Scott, known as ‘The Flower of Yarrow’, the events surrounding her being retold in the ballad

The Dowie Dens o Yarrow "The Dowie Dens o Yarrow", also known as "The Braes of Yarrow" or simply "Yarrow", is a Scottish border ballad (). It has many variants (Child collected at least 19) and it has been printed as a broadside, as well as published in song collecti ...

. In the 18th century the family moved to

Mertoun Mertoun is a parish in the south-west of the historic county of Berwickshire in the Scottish Borders area of Scotland. Together with the parish of Maxton, Roxburghshire it forms the Maxton and Mertoun Community Council area. It was included in t ...

; the house was used as a farmhouse. It was restored and reoccupied during the 19th century. It became the seat of

Lord Polwarth Lord Polwarth, of Polwarth in the County of Berwick, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1690 for Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth, 2nd Baronet, Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1696 to 1702 (the baronetcy had been created in t ...

Structure

The castle incorporates a three-storey tower house; it was extended between 1680 and 1690, with internal changes also, and again when it was reoccupied. The additions were added on the north; so they have not changed the appearance of the south front. The original block was (east to west) by ; the castle was extended east in the refurbishment of 1680. Internal features include plaster ceilings, and fireplaces. In the grounds there is a

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on ...

, possibly dating from the 17th century, to the west of the house. And there is a

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

, originally at Dryburgh House, high, with a square dial stone, a twisted shaft, and a moulded base. It is a category A listed building.

References

{{coord, 55.4248, -2.8715, display=title Castles in the Scottish Borders Category A listed buildings in the Scottish Borders