In the 1930s, he was a strong Appeaser of Germany, believing that the country had been badly treated by the French and Americans after the Armistice (not surrender) in 1918 and that the main threat to the West came from Stalin. He began his career as part of Milner’s ‘Kindergarten’ in South Africa until 1910, was Lloyd George’s Secretary at the Treaty of Versailles, Ramsay MacDonald’s Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, and ended as British Ambassador in Washington, where he died in 1940, refusing medical treatment. A brilliant but ‘nervy’ man, he found strength and philosophical support by becoming a Christian Scientist.Īfter Oxford, where he was the third Marquess of Lothian to take a first-class degree, he devoted himself to public life. The policy of alienating historic properties for new social, educational and religious uses was the brainchild of the bachelor, Liberal, lapsed Catholic, Philip, 11th Marquess of Lothian. As well as Ferniehirst becoming a Youth Hostel and Newbattle an educational institution, it also included the lease of Monteviot to an order of Catholic Missionaries and the outright gift of beautiful Jacobean Blickling Hall in Norfolk and its 5,000-acre estate (inherited from the Earls of Buckinghamshire) to the National Trust in 1940. The 1930s disposal of Kerr houses, since reversed, makes an interesting footnote in economic and social history. From 1935 to 1985, the castle was leased for 50 years to the Youth Hostel Association, which, as did many institutions, acquired large old houses in the 20th century without regard for the long-term maintenance or repair costs. The circular south-east turret containing the exceptional library chamber at Ferniehirst was repaired then, as attested by a datestone 1889. He sadly died in a shooting accident at Quideng in Australia, aged only 25, when aide-de-camp to the Governor of New South Wales. A sensitive restoration in Arts-and-Crafts spirit was begun in 1887–90 by the eldest son of the 9th Marquess, Walter, Earl of Ancram. Newbattle Abbey became an adult education college in 1936.Īlthough reduced to a minor role by the 19th century, Ferniehirst continued to be highly regarded as the original Kerr seat. It has become the principal modern Lothian residence. The Blore scheme was never finished, but Monteviot, in a beautiful setting, was enlarged and restored for the 12th Marquess by the architect Schomberg Scott, a cousin, in the 1950s.
The 6th Marquess, who succeeded in 1815, embarked on a large new Jacobethan seat to the design of Edward Blore, expanding a small Georgian fishing lodge overlooking the River Teviot, five miles to the west of Jedburgh. ©Paul Highnam for Country Lifeįerniehirst was rarely occupied by the Lothian Kerrs in the 18th century, although it was kept in repair and some modernisation was done, including the addition of Georgian panelling and chimneypieces in the bedrooms and tall sashes in the central hall. By the 15th century, the family had two main branches, the Kerrs of Cessford (continued through the female line in the Duke of Roxburghe) and the Kerrs ‘of Ferniehirst’, so described by 1470, who are represented today in a direct male-line descent by the Marquess of Lothian as their clan chief. The medieval castle was founded by the Kerrs, a Borders clan reputedly descended from Vikings and recorded in Jedburgh Forest from the 12th century. A succession of three castles has been recorded on this hillside site since the 15th century, but the site may have been first occupied as a forward stronghold, north of Hadrian’s Wall, by the Romans. In its early days, it witnessed all the violence to be expected of a frontier fortress, but, today, it is a scene of tranquillity and peace, a monument to the cultural and economic blessings brought by the Union of the Crowns and their two ancient kingdoms. Photographs by Paul Highnam.įerniehirst Castle overlooks the Jed Water to the south of Jedburgh and once commanded the road from Edinburgh to Otterburn and Newcastle, a key invasion and marauding route. Rebuilt in 1598, this delightful Borders castle was revived by bursts of sensitive restoration in the 19th and 20th centuries, as John Martin Robinson explains. Country Life's Top 100 architects, builders, designers and gardeners.
It is not possible to view the contents of the armoury.
With a nearby wall section attached, platforms and turrets can be added on top of it. It also has an attached wall section which can be scaled by troops, if access is provided. The structure is made of stone, making it impervious to fire.
As a result, only one armory can be built. The armoury stores military equipment, up to an infinite number from each type.
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