A Brief History of Traquair and the Family
Follow Traquair's History through the centuries
Read below the brief history of Traquair from the Early Medieval Period to the current day.
For more insight into Traquair’s fascinating history, read our Articles from the Archives and our Blog:
Early Medieval Period
Traquair is Scotland’s Oldest Inhabited House. It has been lived in for over 900 years and was originally a hunting lodge for the kings and queens of Scotland.
In 1491, it was gifted by the Earl of Buchan to his son, James Stewart, who became the 1st Laird of Traquair.
Royal Hunting Lodge and Defensive Tower
The name Traquair comes from tret or tre a word of Celtic origin meaning a dwelling place or hamlet, and from quair meaning a stream with a winding course. The Quair burn joins the River Tweed a few hundred yards from the rear of the house.
It is not known when the exact foundations of the house were laid but a substantial structure must have existed by 1107 when Alexander 1 of Scotland signed a royal charter at Traquair. At this time the castle was used as a hunting lodge for royalty and also as a base where they could administer justice, issue laws and hold courts. At Traquair, many charters still exist. One, signed in 1175 authorised William the Lion to found a Bishop’s Burgh with a right to hold a market on Thursday. This small hamlet was later to become the City of Glasgow.
During this period Traquair was nestled in the middle of the vast Ettrick Forest and provided a superb venue for royal hunting parties who came to hunt wild cat, wolves, deer, wild boar and bears who roamed the forest. A mural painting in the Museum dating back to the early 1500’s depicts some of these early hunting scenes.
After the death of Alexander III in 1286 the peaceful life of the Borders was shattered by the Wars of Independence. Traquair became one of the many fortified towers or peles that were built along the banks of the Tweed. When the alarm was raised they could communicate to each other by lighting a beacon at the top of the tower and alert the neighbours of an English invasion. Traquair was briefly occupied by English troops but returned to the Crown with the accession of Robert the Bruce in 1306.
More peaceful times eventually returned to Traquair in the 15th century and when James III succeeded in 1460 he gave Traquair to his current favourite Robert Lord Boyd, but when the gift was not appreciated he gave the castle to his favourite court musician, William Rogers. However, he held Traquair for only nine years when he was persuaded to sell it to the Earl of Buchan for the paltry sum of 70 Scots merks (£3 15s).
The Earl of Buchan, a half uncle to the king then gave Traquair to his second son James Stewart who became the first Laird of Traquair in 1491. Since this date the house has remained in the same family.
1500's and 1600's
During the 1500’s and 1600’s the main building was completed and it was during this time that the Lairds of Traquair were at the centre of political power and became associated with Mary Queen of Scots who visited Traquair in 1566.
In the early 1600’s the 7th Laird rose to become Chief High Treasurer of Scotland in 1636 and was granted an earldom.
Family Home and Prosperity
During this period Traquair made the transition from a defensive tower house into a family home. In the 1500’s the lairds of Traquair played important roles in public life with John Stuart, 4th Laird of Traquair becoming the Captain of the Queen’s bodyguard to Mary Queen of Scots. He was host to the Queen when she visited Traquair with her husband and baby son James in 1566. The cradle where she rocked here baby, her bed and some other possessions can still be seen in the house.
During the sixteenth century the main building was extended so by 1599 the main body of the house was completed. Then in the early 1600’s the seventh Laird added the top storey, realigned the windows and changed the course of the River Tweed so it ran further away from the house.
The seventh Laird also became the most influential member of the family and he held the post of Lord High Treasurer of Scotland (picture above left). He was granted an earldom in 1628 and three years later became Commissioner of Scotland. Unfortunately, his fidelity to the king and his attempt to bring Episcopacy to Scotland were to be his downfall. He lost his post, suffered heavy fines and was rumoured to have been seen begging in the streets of Edinburgh towards the end of his days.
The Catholic tradition which has remained in the house to this day was established by John, second Earl of Traquair. His second wife, Lady Anne Seton was a strong Catholic and despite the dangers of the day was determined to bring her five children up as Catholics. Mass was said in secret in a small chamber on the top floor. A secret escape route for the priest was hidden behind a concealed cupboard and led down the old stairs (picture above). It continued to be used until the Catholic Emancipation Act in 1828.
The building of Traquair was completed in 1695 by the Edinburgh architect James Smith who added the two side wings wings, erected the wrought iron screen in the the courtyard and at the rear of the house created a double terrace with two ogee roofed pavilions to overlook the formal gardens.
For over three hundred years there has been no additions or alterations to the main house.
1700's
However, in the mid 1600’s the family returned to the Catholic faith, thereby forfeiting any further chance of advancement and their later support for the Jacobite cause increase their isolation.
The two wings were added in 1694 and these were the last additions to the house with the exception of the famous Bear Gates at the top of the main drive which were built in 1739 only to be closed in 1745 following the visit of Bonnie Prince Charlie when the 5th Earl promised they would never be opened again until the Stuarts returned to the throne.
Jacobites and Troubled Times
In the early 1700’s the political situation in Scotland was very unsettled with James II now exiled in France and deposed by his Protestant daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. Charles, the fourth Earl remained loyal to James and became one of his band of supporters known as the Jacobites who worked secretly to restore the Stuarts to the throne.
The political choices made by the Stuarts of Traquair who also upheld their Catholic beliefs led to some difficult and troubled years ahead from which the family never fully recovered.
Shortly after his marriage to Mary, Charles, the Fourth Earl was imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle suspected of his involvement in a Jacobite plot. Later, he supported his sister in law, Lady Winifred Nithsdale to help her husband as he took part in the first Jacobite rebellion of 1715.
The uprising was doomed to failure and William Nithsdale was imprisoned in the Tower of London and sentenced to death. (The exciting account of his wife’ successful attempt to rescue him can be read in Lady Nithsdale and The Jacobites by Flora Maxwell Stuart)
The fifth Earl, also Charles, inherited his father’s beliefs. He installed the Bear Gates at the top of the avenue in 1738. However, they were only in use for six years, when according to legend, they were closed following a visit of Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). The Earl of Traquair vowed they would never be opened again until a Stuart king was crowned in London.
Charles was imprisoned for his support of the Jacobite cause after the 1745 rebellion. His new wife, Theresa Conyers, volunteered to join him. On his release he was “confined to his estates” but he was responsible for much of the remodeling of the interior of the house. The High Drawing Room and the Library are stunning examples of the European influence on Scottish country houses at that time.
Following the death of the fifth Earl, his brother inherited the Earldom and this marked the beginning of the period of slow decline for the family. Following the death of his wife, Christina Anstruther, he moved to Paris with his two unmarried daughters and handed Traquair over to his son Charles, later to become the seventh Earl. His family were beset by financial problems due in part to his gambling and unsuccessful explorations for mining for minerals on the estate and later in Spain.
1800's
The Stuarts survived at Traquair until 1875 when Lady Louisa Stuart died unmarried. The earldom was lost and the house passed to her cousin Henry Constable Maxwell who took the name Maxwell Stuart and it is Catherine Maxwell Stuart, 21st Lady of Traquair, who lives with her family in the house today.
The 1800’s to Present Day
Traquair in the nineteenth century was a house in decline. Charles, the eight Earl inherited a large financial debt from his father but although he was forced to reduce the size of the estate he was able to implement a progressive policy of modernisation and farm building. Unfortunately, he never married but he did have his share of eccentricities and thwarted his family’s attempts to find him a wife by putting stinging nettles in the beds of his female admirers.
As Charles had no children Traquair passed to his sister Lady Louisa Stuart. She lived on for another 14 years, dying in her 100th year in 1875, and was a friend and neighbour of Sir Walter Scott whom she visited at Abbotsford, just over the hills from Traquair.
After the death of the last Earl, the earldom became extinct as the title could only pass through a male heir. Traquair was then passed to the nearest cousin, Henry Constable Maxwell of Terregles. He added the name Stuart to his own.
The Maxwell family were also recusant Catholics who had remained faithful to their religion and they had great respect for Traquair. He and his wife, Juliana Middleton brought up their large family between Yorkshire and Scotland. After Henry’s death Traquair passed to his eldest son Herbert, a great collector of precious stones and a love of shooting which the game book at Traquair records. He was followed by his younger brother Arthur, who was in his seventies when he inherited Traquair who then passed it to his eldest nephew Frank Maxwell Stuart, who became the 19th Laird of Traquair.
Frank was the eldest of twelve children and four of his brothers had been lost as young men in the First World War. When he inherited the house it was badly in need of repair but the Second World War had just broken out and Frank volunteered as a bomb disposal expert leaving his wife, Dorothy, at Traquair where she lived with oil lamps and little heating throughout the next six years.
After the war was over and the new Labour government began to give grants to rrestore historic houses, Frank began uncovering some of the great treasures of Traquair; the 17th century painted beams in the High Drawing Room, the remarkable tapestries and needlework that had been carefully packed away in trunks and the superb collection of Jacobite glass.
Frank opened the house in 1953 showing groups of visitors around a few of the rooms in the house on two afternoons a week. However, when his son, Peter inherited in 1963, it was clear that in order to maintain the house and tackle the repairs the house was going to need a much larger income than the estate could provide.
Peter gave up his job with Haig whisky and together with his wife, Flora they devoted the next thirty years of their life in developing Traquair into the tourist attraction it is today. This included bringing the 18th century brewery back to life and becoming the first domestic brewery in the UK for many years to hold a commercial brewing licence.
In 1990, Peter died leaving the house to his wife Flora, and together with her daughter, Catherine, they ran Traquair for the next 10 years beginning to host weddings, receiving guests on a bed and breakfast basis and developing an annual programme of summer events. In 1999, Flora married the film director, Robin Crichton and retired, making the house over to her daughter Catherine and setting up The Traquair Charitable Trust. It is now the family home of Catherine, twenty first Lady of Traquair, her husband Mark Muller QC and their three children, Isabella, Louis and Charlotte.
