Thirlestane Castle has been the ancestral home of the Maitland family since 1590.

In 1590, John Maitland, Chancellor of Scotland under James VI, was ennobled as Lord Maitland of Thirlestane. He chose to build a new keep, which was rectangular and ran west to east. It consisted of four and a half stories with a large drum tower at each corner and several smaller semi-circular towers along its length, some housing spiral staircases to the upper floors. Today, this keep is what we see as the central part of the Castle.

In 1670, the second Earl, the first and only Duke of Lauderdale, embellished and altered the original house to create a ‘Palace’ which would be more appropriate for a man of his status. He tasked the architect, Sir William Bruce, to add the two square pavilions on either side of the new entrance, which were the beginnings of the north and south wings, as well as a terrace and grand stone staircase with decorative balusters. The internal layout was also amended to include the grand staircase and magnificent state rooms along with their decorative plasterwork ceilings.

In 1840, the Ninth Earl engaged architects David Bryce and William Burn to design extensions to the Castle in order to make the Castle larger for entertaining. Their additions consist of two large wings flanking the central keep, with a significant expansion of the South Wing. It was constructed around a central courtyard, housing new kitchens, pantries, laundries and servants’ quarters. There is an unusual feature of arcade galleries at two levels on the servants’ quarters giving them all-weather cover as they walked back and forward to the main house.

The original part of the Castle is constructed of small stones held together with copious amounts of mortar, while the north and south wings of the early 1840s are built of fair-sized blocks of granite. Pink Bassendean sandstone dressings are used throughout.

With several hundreds of years of history, there are many stories to share about Thirlestane Castle including many more about its architecture.

Visitors can book a Guided Tour from May-October, or they can pre-book a private tour year-round. Groups are also welcome year-round and they can chose a regular tour or one of our brand new Specialist Tours, delving deeper on topics such as Art & Architecture, Military History and The Maitland Family.