Garleton Castle

Garleton Castle once comprised three blocks within a curtain wall,[1] but the main L-plan tower, which had two wings, is mostly demolished. While the second block has been converted to a farm cottage, the rectangular third block is still nearly complete.[1] This block has two storeys, and a garret with crowstepped gables. Other features are the round stair-tower, and the gunloops piercing the walls.[1] The gunloops are of the splayed variety, characteristic of the 16th century. The castle is rubble-built.[2] Some of the curtain wall survives, and a round tower.[1]

The interior, which has been altered considerably, includes a vaulted kitchen, equipped with a wide-arched fireplace, and another room with a canopied fireplace.[3] The remains of the castle are protected as a category B listed building and as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[4][5]

Garleton Castle belonged to the Lindsay family. It subsequently passed to the Towers of Innerleithen, and was sold by them to the Setons.[1] Sir John Seton of Garleton was given the property by his father George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton. By 1885 it could be described as a fragmentary ruin.[3]

It is said the building was haunted by an apparition of a man at one stage, while the sound of heavy footsteps is said to have been heard.[1] It is possible that Sir David Lyndsay, who wrote Ane Pleasant Satyre of the Thrie Estaitis was born in an earlier building at this site, in 1486.[3]

• Artist's reconstruction of Garleton Castle