Cairns Castle, Edinburgh
Photo © Chris Eilbeck, 15 January 2006
Cairns Castle, Edinburgh
Photo © Richard Webb, 29 March 2008
Cairns Castle, Edinburgh Photo © Chris Eilbeck, 15 January 2006 |
Cairns Castle, Edinburgh Photo © Richard Webb, 29 March 2008 |
A 14th Century Keep, now on the edge of the Harperrig Reservoir, one of the
reservoirs supplying Edinburgh.
EAST CAIRNS CASTLE
A ruin standing on the northern slope of the Pentland Hills, in the parish of Midcalder, about twelve miles south-west from Edinburgh. The Water of Leith rises in the neighbourhood, and the large lake-like reservoir of the Edinburgh Water Trust comes up to within a few yards of the castle. The building is now in a very ruinous condition, a considerable portion having been taken down about twenty years ago. Its plan is of the modified L form, the wing being projected so as to command two sides of the main block. The tower rose to a height of three floors above the ground floor. The basement in both towers was vaulted, as was also the first floor of the smaller tower or wing, the remains of the latter vault being visible in the View. An entrance exists on the ground floor into the large tower, at the re-entering angle, by a round-arched doorway, and a door of communication leads into the smaller tower.
It is not clear whether there was a stair from the ground floor upwards, but there was a separate high entrance at the first floor level. This entrance is square-headed, and a wheel-stair adjoining the door led to the upper floors, in each of which there was a fireplace, and windows with stone seats. The windows were glazed in the upper part, as is seen from the checks cut for the glass. On the ground level of the smaller tower there is a garde-robe shoot on the west side. The existing tower has had the masonry stripped off the inside to such an extent as to greatly imperil its security, and the masonry round the arched doorway is in several places reduced to mere points of support.
Not much appears to be known regarding the history of this castle, but it probably belongs to the sixteenth century. In the Retours of 27th August 1684 we find the following: "Andreas Aitkene mercator de Edinburgh, haeres Thomae Aitkene in Mitchellhill, patris, in annuo redditu 40 pounds, correspondente 1000 m. de lie roume et terris de Wester Cairns, infra parochiain de Midcalder et baroniam de Calder."
The castle is situated on the slope between the hills of Easter and Wester Cairns.
THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND THOMAS ROSS, 1889