skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
  • Offers
  • Home
  • history
  • castles

Mains House (possible) (site of)

According to Margaret Warrender writing in “Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth”, the Hume family lived in a property called Mains House, possibly in the 16th century. This may have been a castle, but as yet I haven’t found any other references to it.

The Humes of Polwarth lived at Polwarth Castle from 1451, upon the marriage of Patrick Hume to Margaret Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair of Herdmanston, Polwarth and Kimmerghame.

Following the destruction of Polwarth Castle during the Rough Wooing of the 1540s, the Humes are said to have first moved to Mains House, before later moving to Redbraes Castle.

While Polwarth Castle and Redbraes Castle both appear on early maps of Scotland, I haven’t been able to find Mains House, unless it went by another name.

In Joan Blaeu’s Atlas of Scotland, published in 1654 but based in part on Timothy Pont’s maps of the late 16th to early 17th century, Redbraes Castle appears as Ridelbraes. Interestingly it is shown as two castles side by side, each within their own enclosure.

One appears to be in the known position of Redbraes, while the other appears to be further to the east, standing closer to a river – possibly the Howe Burn. It’s tempting to identify the second castle as Mains House.

Warrender describes the location of Mains House as being “near the eastern end of the great avenue”. Interestingly towards the eastern end of the Great Avenue is a defined terrace above a bend in the Howe Burn, so for now I have placed the location of Mains House here.

stay in a castle
  • advertisement/
  • advertisement

Where is Mains House?

Mains House is in the parish of Polwarth and the county of Berwickshire.

Grid reference: NT 7542 4931

Lat / long: 55.736522, -2.393067

  • advertisement
Bing Maps | Google Maps | Historic maps (NLS) | OpenStreetMap | Ordnance Survey | PastMap | Streetmap | Wikimapia

OS Map for Mains House

OS map 339
Kelso, Coldstream & Lower Tweed Valley
OS Explorer map 339


Directions to Mains House

Enter a starting point

  • advertisement
  • advertisement

Weather at Mains House

19°C
max 19°C / min 19°C
33km/h SE
1013mb
70%
100%
03:25 20:53

Overcast clouds
Weather observed at Duns at 12:44
  • advertisement

References (books)

Marchmont and the Humes of Polwarth
Margaret Warrender
Edinburgh, 1894

Castles near Mains House

Polwarth Castle (site of)

0.8km away

Redbraes Castle

1.1km away

Caldra

2.0km away

Choicelee (site of)

2.1km away

Bite-About

3.9km away

Langton Castle (site of)

4.1km away

Old Purves Hall

4.4km away

Nisbet House

4.5km away

Tenandry House (site of)

4.6km away
more castles....
  • advertisement
  • Ancestry UK

Ancient sites near Mains House

Duns Law fort

6.2km away

Broomhouse Mains souterrain

8.7km away

Cockburn Law fort

10.5km away

Edin's Hall broch and fort

11.1km away

Bruntaburn Mill standing stone

15.6km away

Cambridge standing stone

17.0km away

Earlston standing stone

18.4km away

The Chesters fort

18.8km away

Brothers' Stones standing stone

18.9km away
more ancient sites....

Pictish stones near Mains House

Borthwick Mains Class I symbol stone

47.2km away

Abernethy No. 2 Class III symbol stone

55.1km away

Abernethy No. 4 Class III cross shaft

55.1km away

Princes Street Gardens Class I symbol stone

55.9km away

The Coves, Caiplie Class I symbols

58.6km away

Abercrombie 1 Class III cross slab

58.9km away

Abercrombie 2 Class III cross slab

58.9km away

Abercrombie 3 Class III cross slab

58.9km away

Abercrombie 4 Class III cross slab

58.9km away
more Pictish stones....
  • Staysure travel insurance
  • Thrifty Rent-A-Car System, Inc.

Pictish sites near Mains House

Hoardweel silver chain

11.2km away

Whitlaw silver chain

25.5km away

Traprain Law silver chain

30.7km away

Haddington silver chain

34.0km away

Norrie's Law hoard

67.5km away

Borland silver chain

69.1km away

Todholes (possible) silver chain

71.4km away

Whitecleugh silver chain

98.2km away

Dunnicaer fort

135.8km away
more Pictish sites....
  • iVisa.com
  • advertisement

Accommodation near Mains House

Bank House, Duns
self-catering apartmentDuns
5.6km away
Garden Cottage, Wedderburn Castle
self-catering cottageDuns
5.7km away
West Lodge, Wedderburn Castle
self-catering cottageDuns
5.7km away
Pavilion Lodge, Duns Castle
self-catering cottageDuns
5.7km away
Groom's Cottage, Wedderburn Castle
self-catering cottageDuns
6.3km away
Keeper's Cottage, Wedderburn Castle
self-catering cottageDuns
6.3km away
The Wheatsheaf Restaurant With Rooms
hotelSwinton
8.3km away
Allanton Inn
hotel, bar, restaurantDuns
12.2km away
Babingtons Cottage
self-catering cottageColdstream
12.3km away
Castle Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantColdstream
12.9km away

Accommodation search

(leave blank to view all)
Accommodation type
bed and breakfasts
campsites
castles
holiday parks
hostels
hotels
self-catering apartments
self-catering cottages
self-catering lodges
spas
more accommodation....

Cafés, restaurants & bars near Mains House

Hirsel Cottage Tea Room
caféColdstream
11.6km away
Allanton Inn
hotel, bar, restaurantDuns
12.2km away
Castle Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantColdstream
12.9km away
The Courtyard Restaurant, Floors Castle
café, restaurantKelso
15.2km away
The Terrace Café, Floors Castle
caféKelso
15.6km away
George & Abbotsford Hotel
hotel, barMelrose
25.7km away
Smeaton Nursery Gardens & Tearoom
caféEast Linton
33.3km away
Baxters Selkirk
caféSelkirk
34.1km away
Selkirk Deli
caféSelkirk
35.0km away
Best Western Philipburn Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barSelkirk
35.8km away
more food.... / more drink....

Related pages

Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
Dunbar harbour and castle
Dunbar harbour and castle
Published on the 8th of April 2012 at 1:09 pm. Updated on the 5th of June 2013 at 4:46 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
read more....

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.

Affiliate links

This site includes affiliate links and adverts. If you click on these links we may receive a small commission at no cost to yourselves. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. This modest income goes towards funding the site.
© 2003 - 2025 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.