Fa’side Castle

Today’s blip is Fa’side Castle, blipped as we were out and about this morning. 

The castle which is about ten minutes drive from us, is still privately owned and you can stay there, as it operates as a B&B.

Now, here’s the history part:

The name dates from 1189, when the monks of Newbattle Abbey granted land to Saer de Quincy, 1st Earl of Winchester  build the castle on the site. It was in the possession of Alan La Zouche, 1st Baron , La Zouche of Ashby, the son in law of Riger de Quincy, 2nd Earl of Wnchester, on behalf of his wife, when it was besieged by Sir William Douglas in 1288. The land was lost to Robert the Bruce after the De Quincy family declared their loyalty to Edward I of England. Bruce granted the lands to the Seton family.

The castle was burned by the English before the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh, which was fought nearby on 10 September 1547, suffocating or burning all those inside. Mary, Queen of Scots left Fa'side on the morning of 15 June 1567 for the Battle of Carberry Hill. She changed into a short skirt and left her fine clothes behind in a chest in the castle apparently.

There’s a lot of history there for sure. As an aside, I was going to blip it yesterday when I mentioned Anne of Cleves as I thought there was a tenuous link, however, the satnav sent us to a farmyard in the middle of nowhere, so gave up.

However, Martin decided we should not give us and we tried again and hey presto, you get this blip. 

Anyway, I hope you have had a good Sunday.