Field Visit
Date 9 September 1926
Event ID 1144385
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1144385
Bridge Castle.
The mansion of Bridge Castle stands on the steep left bank of the Barbauchlaw Burn about 2 ¼ miles northwest of Bathgate. Its northern portion has been a tower dating from the 16th century, L-shaped on plan and containing three storeys and attics. To this has been added a wing, four storeys and an attic in height, linked for convenience to the original wing which contained the staircase. The staircase has been removed and replaced by a modern stair in an extension in the east. On the west, too, there are modern extensions. The entrance to the house is apparently built from the rybats of the old outer gate, a round-headed archway reduced in width and therefore of pointed form. The old main block measures 27 feet 8 inches from north to south by 37 feet 5 inches from east to west and is 45 feet in height to the top of the parapet. It is built of rubble with dressed quoins. Most of the windows have been altered, but those which are original have a quirked edge-roll on jamb and lintel. The original entrance, which is no longer in situ, bears on the lintel a shield charged with an engrailed cross and a crescent in the upper dexter corner, but the charges in the other quarters are obscure. The parapet of the main block is borne on continuous corbelling, and breaks into open rounds at the angles. It seems to have been rebuilt in the 17th century, but before the wing was added. The walk is unusually narrow and is offset for passage round the west chimney-stalk. The later wing has no parapet, and at its junction with the older work, on the western side, the recess formed by the old walls -of the main block and stair-wing is bridged by a small arch to carry an extension of the parapet up to the gable of the new block.
The main block is vaulted on the ground floor. At the eastern end were originally two cellars, while the western part was a single chamber, the kitchen. When the new wing was built, a new kitchen was provided in it at first-floor level, convenient for service to the Hall, which occupied the full extent of the first floor of the main block. In the new kitchen a service-stair was formed to serve the wing. Both the kitchen and the cellar below it are vaulted. The interior of the house has been entirely modernised. The tower is founded on a rock rising towards the west, and it is obvious that the placing of the new wing has been controlled by the site. The old approach was from the south; about 100 yards south of the house are two gate piers of 17th-century date.
HISTORICAL NOTE.
The lands of ‘Littill Brighous’, with the fortalice, in the barony of Ogilface, were sold to William, Lord Livingstone, in 1587/8 by Alexander Stewart and Elizabeth Hamilton, his wife, as free tenants, and James Stewart, his elder son, and Helen Sinclair, his wife, as joint feuars (Reg. Mag. Sig., s.a., No. 1531).
RCAHMS 1929, visited 9 September 1926
OS 6-inch map: ix.NW
