Borthwick Home Great Hall Mary's Bedroom State Room & Chapel

Mary, Queen of Scots Home Page

Great Hall (Fireplace end) Great Hall (Minstrels' Gallery end)
Visitors to Borthwick Castle step straight into The Great Hall where tables are set banqueting style for dinner and breakfast. In the winter, a log fire burns in the huge fireplace. After Cromwell's attack, the castle lay derelict for a long while. By the 19th century, a tree had grown through the impressive hooded fireplace, dislodging some of the stones.
Great Hall's Fireplace Detail of the Great Hall
The Great Hall has a 40-feet vaulted ceiling and a minstrels' gallery. The food is excellent and the emphasis is on personal and friendly service, rather than aloof waitering.
Great Hall's from Minstrels' Gallery from Minstrels' Gallery
Below is a picture of the famous window next to the fireplace, through which Marie is said to have made her escape disguised as a page boy.
To the right of The Great Hall, you will be led up a windy stone staircase with high steps. This is where you will find some of the bedrooms, including the room in which Mary Queen of Scots once stayed...
Click on the door to enter but remember to lower your head (photo by Teresa Deeb Shrimpling).
Window through which Mary is said to have escaped

Click on the door to enter Mary's bedroom.