Description:

A royal hunting lodge was mentioned as being here in the 13th century: this might well have been built of timber. The site belonged to the Bruce family from 1359 to 1796, having been sold to them by their kinsman David II.

The first tower was built c1365 as a two-storey house by a member of the Bruce family on the summit of King’s Seat Hill, an important strategic site overlooking the Forth valley and all the land around.

The Bruce family went bankrupt in 1708 and Henry Bruce fought for the Jacobites in the 1745 uprising. His widow, Lady Catherine Bruce, lived in the mansion until her death in 1791, when the tower and house were abandoned. On 26th August 1787 she knighted Robert Burns with the sword of her famous ancestor Robert Bruce. There are fragments of a courtyard wall and traces of a garden terrace and a bowling green.

What you see today is a really impressive tower house. Extensive repairs are being carried out to preserve the tower and to increase public access within the next few years.