Cavers, home of the Balliols and later of the Black Douglases

[cessna152towser]

Hidden away in a small clearing amid a large pine plantation can be found the ruins of Cavers House. A castle was originally constructed on this site by the Balliols around 1200 and inhabited by them for the next two hundred years. The Douglases played a significant role in the banishing of the Bailliols from Scotland and Cavers Castle passed to the Black Douglas lineage. Sir Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas constructed a new tower house on the site of Bailliol's castle after he succeeded to the earldom when James Douglas fell at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388. James Douglas' banner, and the captured pennon of Henry Percy (Hotspur) were preserved here until Victorian times.

Two horse chestnut trees were planted by the Douglases at the entrance to the tower in 1604 and one of them is still alive today.

A travelling witch and her daughter sought refuge in the tower but were discovered during the night and turned out by the Douglases. As they left the witch put a curse on the tree that every time a branch would touch the ground a Douglas would die. The curse only ended when the tree was felled in the twentieth century. Here are two sections of the trunk, and the bole can just be spotted between them.

Perchance I may have a vivid imagination, but I saw this section of the cursed tree as resembling a crocodile.

Anyway, lets get on with exploring the house. First impressions are uninspiring as we initially see the 19th century extension. Cavers Tower was occupied by descendents of Sir Archibald Douglas, 3rd earl, until the 20th descendent James Douglas esq. of Cavers died in 1878 leaving the male line extinct. The property passed to his niece Mary Malcolm who married Captain Edward Palmer in 1879 and the Palmer-Douglases then extensively re-modelled the property as Cavers House between 1881 and 1887. Later the house fell in to disuse and the Palmer-Douglases made it available to the army, to be used for an exercise in demolition by explosives, and the house was detonated by the army in 1953. More to follow shortly.