HUME CASTLE: HISTORY

Before 1214
The lands of Hume were first granted to William of Hume some time before this date. It is the original seat of the Home family from which they take their name.

It is an example of one of the earliest castle types in Scotland with a rectangular courtyard plan. From its earliest times it was a beacon station for warning of invasion from England. It was the only Borders castle not destroyed in Robert Bruce's scorched earth policy in 1313.

1460
King James II of Scotland and his Queen, Mary of Gueldres, were staying in the castle during the seige of the English in Roxburgh Castle during which the King was killed by an exploding gun.

1547
The Duke of Somerset captured Hume despite its defences having been strengthened by the French. The English then spent 700 pounds repairing the castle, but Lord Home recaptured it the following year and it was then used for the storage of captured English guns.

1569
1651
Hume was taken again by the Earl of Sussex and finally by Oliver Cromwell in 1651, when the artillery bombardment reduced the castle to a ruin.

1770-80
The 3rd Lord Marchmont - a Home - bought the site and rebuilt the castle in its present form, thus saving it from becoming a grassy mound like its much larger neighbours, Roxburgh and Wark. The work was finished in 1789.

1804
Hume was still a beacon station for warning of invasion, now from Napoleon. On the night of 31st January a sergeant of the Berwickshire Volunteers in charge of the beacon mistook charcoal burners fires in the Cheviots for a beacon and, firing his at Hume, set in train the lighting of all the Borders beacons to the West and the turn-out of 3,000 volunteers in what became known as "The Great Alarm".

1929
The Castle and surrounding land was bought by the Secretary of State for Scotland, to whom it still belongs.

1931
The Berwickshire Naturalists Club placed a view finder on the South-West ramparts for the enjoyment of visitors and to celebrate their centenary.

1985
The Berwickshire Civic Society took on the task of administering funds provided by the Scottish Office for the restoration of the castle walls - the castle having been closed to the public since the early 1980s. They are now tenants of the castle.

1992
Hume Castle again open to visitors.