Lauriston Castle

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The south façade of Lauriston Castle today.

Lauriston Castle is a 16th century tower house with 19th century extensions overlooking the Firth of Forth, in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1 History
2 Design
3 Gardens
4 Ghost
5 External links

[edit] History

The original tower house was built around 1590 by Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston, the father of John Napier (1550–1617), the inventor of logarithms, for his younger son, also named Archibald. Later, it was the home of John Law (1671–1729), the economist and of the Right Hon. Andrew Lord Rutherfurd (1791–1854). In 1827, Thomas Allan, a banker and mineralogist, commissioned William Burn (1789–1870) to extend the house in the Jacobean style.

William Reid, proprietor of Morison and Co., acquired Lauriston Castle in 1902, installed modern plumbing and electricity, and he and his wife Margaret filled the house with a collection of fine furniture and artwork. The Reids, being childless, left their home to Scotland on the condition that it should be preserved unchanged. The City of Edinburgh has administered the house since Mrs Reid's death in 1926, which today offers a fascinating glimpse of Edwardian life in a Scottish country house.

At some point during its numerous refurbishments, a stone carving of an astrological horoscope was installed in the outer wall, on the southwest corner. The horoscope was reputedly done by John Napier for his brother. It can be seen in some pictures on the front wall, beneath the left-most stair tower, near the ground.

[edit] Design

Lauriston Castle as it appeared in 1775, before the 1827 addition by William Burn.

Lauriston Castle was originally a four-storey, stone L plan tower house, with a circular stair tower, with two storey angle turrets complete with gun loops. A Jacobean range was added in 1827, to convert it to a country manor.