The Secret History of Baberton House

LOCAL HISTORY

The Secrets of BABERTON HOUSE: Murder, mystery, fire and witches

With tales of royalty and witches, as well as murder, intrigue and fire raising, Baberton House holds many secrets. One of Juniper Green’s finest mansions, its history dates back to the early 14th century, when it was known as Kilbaberton House.

Our history starts at the end of the 15th century, when a John Wardlaw is granted a charter to the lands of Kilbaberton.

Within a couple of years of taking ownership John, along with his brother James of Riccarton, is involved in a double murder. The brothers are apparently pardoned “for art and part in the murder of William and Duncan Dundas.” We have no further details, but John was ultimately slain at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

His son Henry inherits and he too becomes embroiled in a curious legal situation. In 1536 he served on a jury in the case of a man charged with “Ye Mutilatioune of Roger Tuedy in Lyntoune of his thumb of his right hand.” Wardlaw and his fellow jurors found the accused not guilty but were served with this indictment: “Although you have seen with your own eyes that Roger’s thumb was cut away and mutilated you have wilfully and manifestly erred and gave false witness in declaring a Not Guilty verdict”. They were imprisoned for a year and a day as was the law of 16th century Scotland.

Henry’s son Alexander next inherits Kilbaberton but it’s his wife who is of interest this time. Marion Forrest, known as Lady Kilbaberton, sought medical help from a local healer and midwife, Agnes Sampsoune. But Agnes became famous, or perhaps infamous, as one of the North Berwick Witches. Along with three others, she was tried for treason at the famous Holyrood trial 1591, attended by King James VI himself. Among the crimes laid to the charge of the ‘notorious sorceress’ was that of “hailing (healing) by her devilish prayers the Lady Kilbabertoune, whae was disessit of ane heavy diseis.” Agnes was found guilty of witchcraft. Her fate followed the custom of the day - led to Castle Hill, “bund to ane staik and wirreit” (strangled), her body afterwards burnt to ashes.

The house next goes to Alexander’s grandson Henry, who seems to have been in residence when there was an incident of arson and murder at Kilbaberton; Henry himself was not mentioned so it’s unclear where he was on the night. But Patrick Hepburn of Riccarton, his brother and various servants came, “under silence and cloud of night, to the town of Baberton, where lived Alexander Borthwick, and there also lived James Borthwick his friend and kinsman. They were lying in their beds, dreading no evil when the said Patrick and his accomplices most cruelly and barbarously raisit fire in the houses together with certain other houses adjacent thereto with the set purpose and provision to have bereft them of their lives.” Alexander and James Borthwick were murdered whilst trying to escape. The Presbytery of Edinburgh ordered the minister of Currie Kirk “to excommunicate “all thance quha committit ye lait murthur and raisit fire at Kilbaberton.”

It took the Borthwicks six years to retaliate but in 1599, the Laird of Riccarton was “stricken threw the body by the two brothers of the Borthwicks.”

In 1612 James Murray, the King’s Architect, acquires the house and the building as we see it today is mostly of Murray’s design.

Just as one might hope to win the lottery today and buy a mansion, John Christie, a captain in the army, won a lottery prize of £10,000 (equivalent to around £1.25m today) and bought Baberton around 1749. He set about extending Murray’s imposing mansion including the addition of the semioctagonal bay to the south. His eldest son inherited but by 1839 had fallen on hard times and had to lease the house to a mysterious stranger who wanted to use it as shooting quarters.

The mysterious stranger is none other than Charles X, the Compe d’Artois, the dethroned and exiled King of France. Charles X’s affinity with Edinburgh had been established when he was first in exile here in 1792 after fleeing France with his family and his mistress and love of his life, Louise d’Esparbes de Lussan. In his second exile, the royal family needed to arrive in England as private citizens. Charles X and his entourage all adopted pseudonyms, with Charles assuming the name of the Count of Ponthieu. They were not well received in England and soon moved to Edinburgh and Holyrood.

Here, the English government was attempting to squash Scottish sympathy for the French Revolution (the needle monument on Calton Hill is dedicated to five Scottish sympathisers who were transported to Australia). Despite this, Charles sent scouts to find somewhere suitable nearby for a shooting lodge. In great secrecy and probably under his false identity, Baberton House was leased for him. One of the ceilings is ornamented with ‘fleur-de-Lys’ in his honour. He must have enjoyed a peaceful interlude in the house, escaping the political turmoil in France.

The Gibson-Craig family of Riccarton become owners of Baberton from 1862 and then there are number of tenants, mostly prominent Edinburgh businessmen using it as summer home and enjoying the relative tranquillity of the area. The house changed hands a few more times and it ceased to be family home in 1979, when it was sold as commercial premises.

The personality of the house has perhaps changed, but looking up from the lawns to the south, you can still imagine the opulence and grandeur surrounding this house and be reminded of all the lives lived in it over the centuries.

This article was written by Karen Murray, drawing on research by local historian John Scott of the Currie Local History Society and a publication on Kilbaberton House by Juniper Green Community Council for the Juniper Green 300 celebrations www.junipergreencc.org.uk. First published in the Konect magazine in 2010.