Moorfoot

Moorfoot was a grange complex belonging to Newbattle Abbey which seems to have either included a fortified tower or been superseded by one.

The lands of Moorfoot, then known as Morthwaite, were granted to Cistercian monks from Melrose by David I in 1140, after he founded Newbattle Abbey for them. Morthwaite was owned by the Abbey until the Reformation, after which it seems to have become the property of Mark Kerr, the Abbott of Newbattle.

An entry in the Records of the Parliaments of Scotland for 1587 refers to the manor and fortalice of Morphattoun.

The Abbott’s son, also Mark Kerr, would later be created the 1st Earl of Lothian in 1606, following a spell as interim Lord Chancellor of Scotland. The 1st Earl’s main residences were Prestongrange and the grange of Morthwaite or Morthweth, suggesting that it was a property of some status at that time.

A tower named Morfoot is marked on an 18th century reprint of a John Adair map from 1682.

Today only the footings of the property remain, however they show that the buildings were laid out around a courtyard measuring around 30.0m square. On the south side of the courtyard is a range comprising of three chambers, possibly a great hall, kitchen and bedroom, with the north and south walls of the easternmost room rising to a maximum height of 1.4m and varying in thickness between 0.95m and 1.1m.