This page is a stub.
You can help improve it.
Gogar House (or Castle Gogar) is situated alongside the runway of
Edinburgh Airport.
The first Castle Gogar (or Gogar House) was built on the property about
1300 by the Forresters of Corstorphine, and traces of its foundation can
apparently be seen in the current tower house. The lands had been given
to Clan Seton by Robert the Bruce, then passed to the Halyburtons about
1409.
In 1601 John Couper bought the property, and it was his son, Adam Couper,
who built the castle in 1625. While the renowned Martin Coventry
describes the castle as "a large 17th-century L-plan" where "the main
block and offset wing join only at the corners", the presence of the
round tower at the NE corner of the main block makes the castle in
effect a "Y-plan". Both the main block and wing have corner bartizans,
and the stair tower in the re-entrant angle rises to a balconied flat
roof. The basement is vaulted, and the walls pierced by several gun
loops.
John Couper's initials, together with those of his wife, and the date
1625 appear on pediments to dormer windows. It is a very interesting,
well-preserved laird's house of the period. The walls, of harled rubble,
rise to three storeys and an attic, with a watch-chamber at the head of
the stair-tower. The original door was at the foot of this tower.
The castle was near a Civil War skirmish between Cromwell's army and the
Scot under General David Leslie, but has otherwise been untouched by
war.
The castle was apparently in the hands of Clan Couper (See below for
other possible owners) until an Edinburgh banker, William Ramsay of
Barnton, a director of the Royal Bank of Scotland, bought Gogar House
(as it was known then) for £37,000 in 1789. Mrs. Ramsay and her son
George went out to look over Gogar House in April 1792, and were
“pleased with the grandeur and substantial appearance of the Place”.
Later in that year, William observed that “the beauty and value” of
Gogar far exceeded his expectations. George, later known for his hunting
and coaching exploits, married Miss Jean Hamilton of Wishaw, and between
1793 and 1804, their children were born at Gogar. His daughter Susan
married Alexander Gibson-Maitland. The Gibson-Maitland and later
Steel-Maitland families owned Castle Gogar for more than 200 years,
until in 2002 Lady Brenda Steel-Maitland bequeathed the property to her
dear friend and tenant Gordon Stewart. The castle was purchased by Scott
and Lesley Seath in 2003, and has been lovingly restored.
Brenda Steel Maitland died in 2003, she left the castle and estate to
Gordon Stewart who looked after her in later life. The castle was in
much need of restoration, so it was put up for sale and bought by Scott
and Lesley Seath. They set about restoring the castle, and split up the
estate to form 5 modern houses and 3 stable conversions in order to pay
for the restoration. Apparently, the local council turned down the
original plans for old fashioned type houses and wanted properties with
a complete contrast to the old castle.
When Castle Gogar was listed for sale, it was priced at £2.9 million. It
has five bedrooms, five bathrooms, a two-bedroom wing, outbuildings with
a gym and games room, floodlit manège and four paddocks. Yet it still
has castle features: a vaulted crypt; tower room; battlements; and
turrets with arrow slots.
Family connections
The following Gogar properties have been identified:
Gogar House, Midlothian
Gogar Mount, Midlothian
Over Gogar, Midlothian
Gogar Burn House, Midlothian
Gogar Park, Midlothian
Gogar Green, Midlothian
Gogar Mains, Midlothian
Gogar Bank, Midlothian
Gogar Nursery, Midlothian
...the lands of Gogarmains, in the parish of Corstorphine.
and also
Gogar House, Perth
Identifying which family is associated with which 'Gogar' is, therefore
difficult. Those below all have a connection:
George Halyburton of Gogar, son of Sir Walter Halyburton of Dirleton
Castle, b. Abt 1380, d. Bef 5 Oct 1447 and Marjory (Mary)
Douglas. She was the daughter of
Archibald 'The Grim', 3rd Earl of
Douglas.
The
barony of Braidwood was transferred to Harie
Stewart of Gogar, brother of James Stewart of Bothwellhaugh, who was
briefly Earl of Arran during the insanity of the third earl, James
Hamilton.
In the 16th century, the owner was Robert Logan of Restalrig who sold
the house and lands to Adam Couper in 1601.
Alexander Erskine of Gogar, (d. 1592), Scottish laird and keeper of
James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle. He held the office of Keeper of
Stirling Castle before 1578, until he was ejected by his nephew, the 2nd
Earl of Mar. Alexander was a son of John Erskine, 5th Lord Erskine and
Lady Margaret Campbell, a daughter of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of
Argyll. A contract for the marriage of Hon. Sir Alexander Erskine of
Gogar and Margaret Home was signed on 20 March 1563/64.Margaret Home was
the daughter of George Home, 4th Lord Home and Mariot Halyburton.
Margaret Douglas, relict of Archibald Skeldie, in Gogar,
her first spouse, and relict of Nicol Lowrestoun, in Gogar, her last
spouse, par. of Ratho, sher. of Edinburgh 7 Mar. 1600 (See note 1)
The lands of Gogar (Nether) were acquired by Sir John Cowper, Lord
Ordinary of the court of Session, in 1601. The house was built in 1625
by John Cowper, Sir John's son.
In 1623 Alexander Douglas granted a bond for 3,000
merks to Archibald Waddel, portioner of Thornydykes, and James
Douglas, portioner of Over Gogar, as a result of which they, in
course of time, became proprietors of
Wakefield. Archibald Waddel,
probably a son of the portioner of Thornydykes, and a soldier with the
rank of major, conveyed his half in 1669 to Alexander Douglas
of Over Gogar, later designed as " of Morton." 1 Barns Papers. The half
held by James Douglas, ...
There was a James Douglas of Gogar in 1629, and a
William Douglas of Gogar in 1631 who was married to a Margaret Inglis. William and Margaret
had a daughter, Anna, born 1631, and Anna had an older brother called
Alexander. Alexander married Margaret Douglas, a Lady Bomikellie, who
may have come from near the Solway coast in Kirkcudbrightshire.
(Douglas, Margaret, Lady Bomikellie, wife of Alexander Douglas of Gogar
c1677)
In 1646, there was a William Douglas of Gogar. In the same document (Act
for putting the kingdom in a posture of defence) is recorded Sir John
Cowper of Gogar.
James Douglas, portioner of Over Gogar, is designed bailie and
chamberlain to ane michty lord William, Earl of Mortoun, and he died in
the month of October 1635, nominating the above-named William Douglas,
his eldest son, his sole executor. William Douglas of Over Gogar had a
seat allotted to him in Calder church, in right of the lands of Howden
(See note 1),
in the years 1646 and 1653. He died previous to 29th January 1669, on
which date his testament is recorded.
This second marriage ??? was a clandestine affair and would probably
have been disapproved of by the powerful Panmure family (Douglas 1910,
21; Maule 1874, 375). When Henry ?? died in 1667, it is unlikely that
his widow could have looked to the Panmures for much help and the
acquisition of the Canongate properties shortly afterwards might be seen
as her attempt to resettle herself, with her young daughter, in
Edinburgh. About ten years later she married Alexander Douglas of Gogar
...
Among those who were killed with the earl of Haddington, at the blowing
up of the castle of Dunglas, 30th August 1640, was John Couper of Gogar.
Cumberland Reid, 1746 -1818, owner of Gogar Bank, situated about six
miles from Edinburgh on the road to Glasgow from Hermiston
Andrew Stuart (d. 1801), lawyer, was the second son of Archibald Stuart
of Torrance in Lanarkshire (d. 1767), seventh son and heir of Alexander
Stuart of Torrance. His mother, Elizabeth, was daughter of Sir Andrew
Myreton of Gogar, bart.
'A Miss Douglas of Leith' married John Reid of Gogar
Bank
Notes:
1. 1st July 1623 - Isobell Skeldie (who is
designed relict of Robert Douglas of Over Howden, now spouse to Robert
Thomson),
|
