A Home, A Home, A Home

April 7, 2023--vista from Hume Castle

It is perhaps a matter of perspective, but the vistas in The Borders are truly incredible.  And from heights like Hume Castle, they might even be just short of spectacular. 

April 7, 2023--the Eildon Hills from Hume Castle

First off, the Eildon Hills are a dominating feature of the landscape in The Borders, much in the same way that The Paps of Jura dominate the view in Argyle's Inner Hebrides islands. There's no escaping them, as it were.  For orienteering, they can't be beat. 

March 23, 2017--The Paps of Jura from Port Askaig

On Easter Friday, we pulled up stakes at Kingsknowes, Galashiels and aimed east, with the need to conserve charge in the back of our minds in the all-electric Peugeot we were assigned (without the ability to charge it).  Our destination that morning was actually Flodden Field, which we wanted to take in before setting up stakes over Easter at the Ford Village B&B later that evening.

April 7, 2023--path to Hume Castle

But en route (within reason), it was certainly an unstructured carpe diem affair.  Anything was game if we could reach it without too much additional range expended.  Which brings us to Hume Castle. 

April 7, 2023--the folly

Trundling into the Peugeot following our stop at the Greenknowe Tower lay by, we hesitated.  Hume Castle was three miles south of Greenlaw.  So...six miles round trip.  Should we expend the extra mileage and see what Hume Castle was about?  After all, we still had to make it back to Galashiels on Easter Monday.  In the end, we decided to chance the six miles.  

Like the Eildon Hills, Hume Castle is a prominent feature in the landscape.  In fact, we had viewed it on the horizon inbound from the windows of the Berwick-Galashiels bus (Bus 60-Bus 62X) to Innerleithen where we had scheduled a half day walk to Traquair House. 

April 3, 2023--Traquair Arms

Here, let me put in a plug for accommodations at Traquair Arms, a 200-year old coach house that is still operating.  We booked a single overnight at Traquair Arms, and planned to board the bus back to Galashiels to pick up the infamous rental the next morning.  Had we only known when we began to layout our itinerary, we certainly would have booked two nights and found things to do in Innerleithen--it's not like there's a shortage of sites to see nearby.  

The Traquair Arms proprietors were gracious and welcoming.  We did book dinner that evening at the hotel, and of course breakfast the following morning.  But as for the dinner, according to Darla their cullen skink was the best she has had in Scotland, and that is saying something.  

While the name might be a bit put-offish, Cullen skink is a smoked haddock dish, a soup or rather a stew with potatoes and onions.  It is named after Cullen, a town in Moray in the northeast of Scotland.  Skink is borrowed from the Dutch.  In Scot, it means soup.

In any case, we were uncertain on the trade off of what we might see at Hume Castle given the profligacy of expending six miles of what was a very limited range.  We needed not be.  It soon became apparent that the view alone would be remarkable.  

Hume Castle, in its existing state, was rebuilt as a "folly" by Sir Hugh Hume, the third Earl of Marchmont in 1789...so not exactly old.  The rebuilt castle ramparts are crenulated, but these are non-functional, almost a burlesque exaggeration of former defenses.  

April 7, 2023--a castle foundation (c. 1225 AD)

That said, in evidence within the folly itself is an earlier curtain wall or perhaps the central tower that dates back to the foundation of the castle in or about 1225 AD.  

The lands of the Hume clan, though, are slightly older.  They were established in 1214 as dowry of Ada, daughter of Patrick, Earl of Dunbar who took William de Courtney, a Norman, as husband.  Unlucky in love, she was widowed in 1217 after three years of marriage.  She then took Theobald de Lascelles (also Norman) in marriage, and he too died in 1225.  We must leave stories of a "black widow" to others.

April 7, 2023

Third time's a charm they say.  In 1225, she married her second cousin William, son of Patrick of Greenlaw.  This William assumed the Hume surname from the dowry lands of his wife Ada.  It is through him that the Hume clan, Wardens of the Eastern Marches, descends.  

It is generally assumed that it was he who laid the first stone foundations of Hume Castle.  Built upon a natural outcrop of rock, Hume Castle was nearly impregnable ...prior to the advent of artillery.  Gunpowder changed things.

The castle had a rectangular plan and a central courtyard, which is said to be unusual for southern Scotland.  

For its part, Hume Castle has had quite a fabled military record, repeatedly swapping hands between Scottish and English (and between Scottish and Scottish) over the subsequent generations.  If anything, it indicates the vast power that the Hume family held in Berwickshire.

Also true is that everything changed with the Battle of Flodden.  On September 9, 1513, Alexander, 3rd Lord Hume, led his Scottish horsemen successfully against the right wing of the English army under Edmund Howard and defeated it...but to no avail.  At the end of the day, Scotland was lost at Flodden Field, along with King James IV and most of Scotland's nobility.

April 7, 2023--the cursed well

Neither would Alexander Hume long survive.  He went into rebellion a year later after refusing to accept Regent Albany (John Stewart)...and for valid reasons.  Hume Castle was lost.  But almost immediately after, Lord Hume retook Hume Castle (August 25, 1515).  He then set about reducing it and razed its walls himself.  Then, to be sure he would not have to trouble with it again, he eternally damned its well forevermore.

Treacherously, and on his back foot, Albany offered a pardon and arranged a meeting at Edinburgh (Holyroodhouse).  He then had Hume and his brother William arrested...their heads were displayed on the gables of Edinburgh Tollbooth.  Yet one more reason for the saying:  "You can never trust a Stewart."  (After so many examples of their treachery, one must wonder why the Scots continued to fall for it.)

April 7, 2023--built on native rock

Ultimately in 1651, the castle was demolished by parliamentarian (Roundhead) artillery under orders of Oliver Cromwell who sought to eliminate Scottish strong points in The Borders which might challenge his parliamentary forces.  It was this ruin which Sir Hugh Hume had fashioned into a folly in 1789.

April 7, 2023--village of Hume

I should mention that the village, or perhaps more accurately hamlet, of Hume is a tiny affair.  We did not see a pub or tearoom open.  So after our tour of the castle works, we saddled up in the Peugeot and aimed for Flodden Field, feeling the better off for having made the six mile trade.

April 7, 2023--the black Peugeot barely visible

In 2005, after 100 years in care of the state, Hume Castle was returned to the Hume clan having been acquired by the Hume Castle Preservation Trust.  Hume Castle is the spiritual and familial home of the Humes.  The clan slogan is: "A Home, a Home, a Home".   Their clan motto is more poignant: "True to the End".  Aye, they were that.