The original castle was built by the Ker (or Kerr) family around 1470. In September 1523, an English force came to burn Jedburgh, and Lord Dacre was sent with 700 men and artillery to take the castle, which "stood marvellous strongly with a great wood". Men from Kendal taking the guns through the wood encountered strong resistance, but eventually the castle was taken.[1]
Ferniehirst was occupied by English forces in 1547, during the war of the Rough Wooing. The English were dislodged by a force of Sir John Ker's clansmen, and the Earl of Huntly reinforced by André de Montalembert and French auxiliaries led by Captain Pierre Longue in February 1549. The gate was fired, then Montalembert d'Essé brought more artillery and the soldiers set about the wall with picks and mattocks. The French soldier Jean de Beaugué described the recapture and the fate of the English captain and garrison,[2] and the aristocrat and priest Alexander Gordon wrote an eyewitness account.[3] An English army led by the Duke of Rutland recaptured the castle in June 1549, but the war was nearly over.[4]
The castle was unused in the 18th century, and re-roofed and repaired circa 1830, with a further major restoration of a part of it in 1890. It was used as a Scottish Youth Hostels Associationhostel from 1934 to 1984, apart from during the Second World War, when it was requisitioned as a billet for troops. In 1988 major repairs, restoration, and alterations were carried out by Peter Kerr, 12th Marquess of Lothian, and the castle is once again a private home. It is currently used by his second son, Lord Ralph Kerr, who also owns Melbourne Hall in Derbyshire, and is the 14th Marquess of Lothian. The castle is open to the public during July. It is a category A listed building.[9]
The Ker Chapel, dating from the 17th century, is part of the property. Probably originally a mortuary chapel, it was re-roofed in 1938 and had restrained conversion and repair in 1988. It is now in use as a visitor centre and is also a category A listed building.[10]
Description
The shorter arm of this L-plan fortalice is the 16th-century tower, containing the stair turret. The turnpike stair is in a spiral, corbelled out in the angle: apparently more for elegance than for necessity. There are many shot-holes, allowing a wide angle for musket fire, and of the more restricted shut-holes used for ventilation.
The stair spirals counter-clockwise and is known as the "left-handed staircase" as it would put right-handed attackers at a disadvantage. The story is that in 1513 when the left-handed Sir Andrew Kerr came back from the Battle of Flodden, he had his men learn to use their left hands when swordfighting. In Scotland, left-handedness has been dubbed "Corrie-fisted" or "Kerr-handed".[11]
Ferniehirst also has a romantic array of conically-capped corner turrets. These – known as studies – are not primarily defensive: they open from the rooms of the upper floor. There is some Renaissance decoration around the windows and doors. The castle is approached through a classically-styled archway.
^Cameron, Annie, I., ed., Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine (SHS, 1927), pp. 286-290, Gordon's account differs from de Beaugué's over some details.
^Merriman, Marcus, The Rough Wooings (Tuckwell, 2000), 140.
^Allan James Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), p. 528 no. 2448.
^Thomas Wright, Queen Elizabeth and her Times, vol. 1 (London, 1838), p. 351.
^Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 42.
^William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), 161.