Publication Account
Date 1951
Event ID 1097886
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1097886
"Cardinal Beaton's House," Cowgate.
This building stood on the N. side of the Cowgate, between Blackfriars' Wynd and Todrick's Wynd. It was of quadrilateral plan, being built about a courtyard to which entrance was obtained through an arched passage opening upon Blackfriars' Wynd. The whole of the ground-floor was vaulted, and access to the first, or main, floor was by a broad flight of steps which rose from the entrance passage. On the Cowgate side there was a hexagonal turret, supported on a stone pillar (1). The house originally belonged to James Beaton (2), Archbishop of Glasgow from 1509 to 1522 and thereafter Archbishop of St. Andrews until 1546, whose coat of arms remained visible at the entrance in Blackfriars' Wynd long after the building had become ruinous (3). According to tradition, Archbishop Beaton was succeeded in the ownership of the house by his nephew, the Cardinal.
In 1520 this house was the meeting place of the Hamiltons, who, with the Archbishop's assistance, plotted to massacre the Douglases - a plot which culminated in the "Cleanse the Causeway" fight between the. two factions. James V lodged in it in 1528, and in 1561 a banquet was given there by the Town in honour of Mary, Queen of Scots (4).
RCAHMS 1951
(1) Wilson, Memorials, ii, pp. 98 ff. (2) Pitscottie, Historie and Cronicles of Scotland, ii, p. 313. (3) Wilson, loc. cit. (4) Diurnal, p. 71.
