For over 800 years, Dalhousie Castle has witnessed triumphs and tragedies, battles and dungeons, and the enduring legacies of kings and queens.

Our story begins in the 13th century, when Dalhousie Castle was originally erected – the same era as Genghis Khan and the Magna Carta. While the original foundations have weathered through the centuries, the majestic residence you see today took shape around 1450, crafted from the vibrant red stone quarried just across the South Esk River.

Originally, guests would cross a drawbridge over a dry moat to enter. The moat remains today, and you can still see the holes from the drawbridge mechanisms and the machicolations castle guards would use to drop nasty surprises on invaders below. It’s safe to say, today’s visitors are greeted with a much warmer welcome.

As you explore the interior, you will happen across the mural staircase which leads from the banqueting hall to the vaults, and the spiral staircase which leads from what was the first floor of the keep to the top of the ‘bottle dungeon’. This might sound like a highly secure wine cellar, but in reality, it was a windowless cell where prisoners were lowered by rope. You can still see the rope marks worn into the stonework.

Originally known as Dalwolsey, the land at Dalhousie is believed to have belonged to Simunus de Ramesia, who followed King David 1st to Scotland from the village of Ramsay in Huntingdonshire, around 1140. This is where the Ramsay family line supposedly originated from, as it appears in Midlothian records all through the 13th century. William Ramsay, who witnessed deeds regarding land in 1280, was the first known Ramsay de Dalwolsey, and his name can be seen on the Ragman’s Roll of 1296, paying homage for those lands to Edward I of England. The king even spent a night in Dalhousie Castle before going to Falkirk where he defeated William ‘Braveheart’ Wallace.

Later, William Ramsay switched sides, riding out with the armies of Robert the Bruce and swinging his mighty broadsword at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 – changing the path of Scotland’s history, forever.

Many more battles were fought, lost and won. The English gained possession of several Scottish castles including Dalhousie, but Sir Alexander Ramsay formed a band of loyal knights, organised a series of daring raids on the English and, by 1342, had retaken most of the occupied land and castles, including our beloved Dalhousie.

The Ramsays proved a brave bunch. Sir William Ramsay of Dalhousie defeated the English at Nisbet Moor in 1355.

A later Sir Alexander Ramsay withstood a six-month siege at Dalhousie laid by King Henry IV of England. Sadly, Sir Alexander met a sticky-end two years later at Homildon Hill, a battle immortalised in Shakespeare’s Henry IV (part 1).

“Ten thousand bold Scots, two and twenty knights, balk’d in their own blood…”

One Ramsay succeeded the next, generation after generation, through the centuries. Sir Alexander’s great-great grandson, also an Alexander, was slain at Flodden in 1513. When Mary, Queen of Scots, escaped from her imprisonment at Loch Leven in 1568, the Laird of Dalhousie was one of those who met her and fought for her at the Battle of Langside.

Sir George Ramsay, whose initials you can still see on the wall of the keep, was granted a royal charter in 1618 by King James. George’s brother, John, was also a favourite of the King, having saved the monarch’s life by foiling a kidnapping plot. In 1633, George’s son, William, was raised to Earl of Dalhousie and Lord Ramsay of Keringtoun. But eight years later, he changed sides – fighting for Oliver Cromwell’s Parliamentarians in the civil war, and commanding a regiment at Marston Moor in 1644. Perhaps that’s why Cromwell himself moved into Dalhousie for a while, using the castle as a base for his invasion of Scotland.

The civil war had been a major drain on the family’s finances, and when the 8th Earl brought his bride home she had to pick her way across bare beams to get to her accommodation.

As the Anglo-Scottish quarrelling eased in the 1700s, the Ramsays of Dalhousie turned gradually from warfare to politics. After the 9th Earl George Ramsay fought alongside Wellington in battle, he went on to serve as Lt-Governor of Nova Scotia, sowing the seed for one of the finest educational establishments in Canada – Dalhousie University. He later became Governor-in-Chief in North America and Commander-in-Chief of India. Not a bad career.

After restoring Dalhousie to its original grandeur, George died in 1832, mourned by many, including his old school friend, Sir Walter Scott. George’s youngest son, James, 10th Earl and Marquis of Dalhousie, became the youngest ever Governor-General of India. According to Lord Curzon, “no man ever gave his life to his country more completely or with more consuming devotion” than James had done – in fact, he was so beloved that even Queen Victoria herself came to Dalhousie Castle in 1840 “to take tea with her devoted servant”, James.

James had no sons, so was succeeded by his cousin Lord Panmure. Since the turn of the 20th century, the Earls of Dalhousie have actually lived at Brechin castle – where James Hubert Ramsay, 17th Earl, still lives today as chieftain of Clan Maule of Panmure and Clan Ramsay of Dalhousie.