Hume Castle

Hume Castle from the nearby road

Back in July I took a group of 4 ladies on a family history trip to Scotland to visit Hume Castle in the Scottish Borders, located not far from the town of Kelso. Although I had seen the castle from a distance on several occasions, I had never been there before. As can be seen from this picture, the castle bears more than a passing resemblance to a toy soldier's fort.

Original 13th century masonry

The walls that are visible today were actually constructed around 1798, for Sir Hugh Hume of Polwarth, the 3rd Earl of Marchmont. There was never any attempt to use the castle for any form of accommodation though, and no buildings were ever built within the walls. So we can only conclude that the purpose was simply to provide a point of view, otherwise known as a "folly". Because of its elevated site, the castle can be seen for miles around, and it did serve a useful purpose as a beacon station during the Napoleonic Wars era, to warn of invasion.

Lookout platform

All that remains of the original 13th century castle are some chunks of masonry within the castle enclosure.

The original castle was actually destroyed in 1651, when Colonel Fenwick attacked the castle on behalf on Oliver Cromwell and reduced the castle to ruin by artillery bombardment.

Although in truth there is not much of major interest to see at the castle, the visitor is certainly rewarded with magnificent views of the surrounding Scottish Borders countryside. At one corner of the castle is a lookout platform, with a plinth bearing a brass plaque showing all the different places and surrounding hills that can be seen.

Plaque showing all the nearby places and surrounding hills 

There is a small visitor car park next to the castle, suitable only for cars, but no other facilities that the frequent castle visitor is accustomed to such as a cafe, toilets, bookshop etc. However the good news is that there is no entrance charge either!