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Uttershill Castle is a ruinous 16th-century tower house, about south of Penicuik,
Uttershill Castle is a ruinous 16th-century tower house, about south of Penicuik, Midlothian
Midlothian (; gd, Meadhan Lodainn) is a historic county, registration county, lieutenancy area and one of 32 council areas of Scotland used for local government. Midlothian lies in the east-central Lowlands, bordering the City of Edinburgh, ...
, Scotland, south of the river North Esk, and west of the Black Burn.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.322
Alternative names are Utters Hill and Outtershill Castle.
History
The property belonged to the Prestons of Gorton andCraigmillar
Craigmillar ( gd, Creag a' Mhuilleir, IPA: ˆkʰʲɾʲekˈaˈvɯʎɪɾʲ, from the Gaelic ''Creag Maol Ard'', meaning 'High Bare Rock', is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, about south east of the city centre, with Duddingston to the north and Ne ...
. In 1646 the Countess of Eglinton lived here. It was purchased by the Clerks of Penicuik in 1702. The castle was a ruin prior to the start of the 19th century, although it was used as a gunpowder store.
The excavation was carried out in October 1994, in advance of a proposed restoration programme.
Structure
The castle stands on a level base, bounded to the north-east by a scarp slope, about high. The castle had two storeys or more, and may have had a courtyard. It had a vaultedbasement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
, and a hall
In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...
on the first storey, reached by a straight stair. In the 17th century an unvaulted kitchen, with a chamber above, was added, but it has long since been demolished.
The castle was built of freestone rubble, and was probably harled. It was rectangular, measuring externally north east to south west by .
The entrance was at ground level on the south side.
See also
* Castles in Great Britain and Ireland * List of castles in ScotlandReferences