Queen Mary's House

This is a 16th century bastle house consisting of a three storey main rectangular block, with a rectangular stair tower projecting from the middle of the east side. Interestingly the stair tower rises to four storeys.

Known today as Queen Mary's House, it is unclear if Mary actually stayed here. Legend has it that the house was built for Queen Mary by Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst, and that she rested here following a riding accident in 1566. However there is a conflicting report that the house he built for Queen Mary was in fact elsewhere in Jedburgh, "on Limmerfield in the Black Gait."

It may still be the case that the location of Queen Mary's House was once known as Limmerield. What is known is that six bastle houses were built in Jedburgh some time after the destruction of Jedburgh Castle in 1409, and that the house at Limmerfield was one of them.

The Kerrs were famously left-handed, and the bastle house features a spiral staircase which turns the opposite way to normal to give them a defensive advantage while sword-fighting with intruders.

Above the arched doorway are the combined arms of the Home and Kerr families.

In the 1980s the house was restored, and opened to visitors in 1987 on the 400th anniversary of Mary's death and houses a museum dedicated to her.