Floors Castle

Floors Castle

The biggest lived-in castle in Scotland

In the rolling Borders country of south-east Scotland, overlooking the broad River Tweed near the town of Kelso, spreads an enormous castle bristling with turrets, towers and little domes. This is Floors Castle, and it holds a special title: it is the largest inhabited castle in Scotland. Not the largest ruin, not the largest ancient fortress — the largest one that people still live in today.

The name "Floors" has nothing to do with the floors inside. It comes from an old word, possibly the French fleurs (flowers) or a Scots word for level, grassy ground — fitting for a castle that sits among wide green parkland.

Built by the Adams and Playfair

Floors was begun in 1721 for John Ker, the 1st Duke of Roxburghe. The first design came from William Adam, one of the leading architects of the day and father of the famous Robert Adam. His building was grand but fairly plain.

The castle got its fairy-tale look much later. In the 1830s and 1840s the architect William Playfair was hired to transform it, and he added the forest of turrets, cupolas and carved stonework that make Floors so unmistakable today. The result looks like a castle from a storybook, even though it was built for comfortable living rather than for defence.

A holly tree and a fallen king

The parkland around Floors holds a famous secret. Somewhere on the grounds, a holly tree is said to mark the spot where, in 1460, King James II of Scotland was killed.

James had been besieging nearby Roxburgh Castle, then held by the English. He loved the new weapons of his age — great cannons — and was standing close to one of them when it suddenly burst apart. The exploding gun killed the king instantly. Roxburgh Castle was captured and pulled down soon afterwards, and today only grassy mounds remain of it, not far from the holly tree.

Home of the Dukes of Roxburghe

Floors has belonged to the same family, the Dukes of Roxburghe, for its whole history, and they live there still. The castle is filled with fine paintings, tapestries and furniture collected over the centuries, and its gardens and grounds are famous for their flowers and walks.

Each year parts of the castle and its gardens open to visitors, who can wander the grand rooms, admire the views over the Tweed, and stand among the parkland where a Scottish king once met his end. Floors is proof that a castle need not be a ruin to be full of history — sometimes the story is still being lived.