Traquair House

Traquair House, often cited as the oldest continuously inhabited house in Scotland, is in fact a multi-phase tower house which dates at the earliest to the 15th century. It was historically the location of a royal hunting forest, and most likely there was a moated enclosure with a hall serving as a high status residence of which nothing survives. The castle and grounds are open to the public for a fee, and there are no specific  access issues for visitors.

The royal estate was granted to many parties in the 14th and 15th centuries, but eventually was granted to “hearty Jake”, the earl of Buchan and half-uncle of King James III. His second son, also James, had a rectangular great tower erected soon after 1492, and this was substantially extended in the mid 16th century. By the late 17th century there was a courtyard full of domestic buildings as well. The Stewarts of Traquair remained committed loyalists to the Stewart dynasty, fighting for Charles I, Charles II and the Jacobites, but oddly the house never appears to have been targeted, and remained in residential use throughout to this day.

HES Canmore database entry
Official Traquair House website