Background The Ker family, Earls and Dukes of Roxburghe, have held lands in Roxburghshire since the 12th century. Their origins are not certain, but they were likely of
Norman stock originally. Since the accession of Sir
James Innes as Duke in 1812, they have used the double-barelled name "Innes-Ker". The name of Floors Castle is thought to come either from "flowers" (or the French
fleurs), or from the "floors", or terraces, on which the castle is built.
Early history Although the present castle lacks all defensive capabilities, and was built in a period when private fortresses had become obsolete in lowland Scotland, there was possibly a
tower house on the site. Tower houses, or pele towers, were typical of the
Scottish Borders. Until the early seventeenth century, the
Anglo-Scottish border lands, or "Marches", were a lawless place where reprisal attacks were common, and which often took the form of cattle rustling or murders, carried on by gangs of
Reivers. Floors also stands opposite the site of
Roxburgh Castle, an important medieval fortress where King
James II was killed during a siege in 1460. The lands of Floors were held by the monks of
Kelso Abbey, until the
Reformation, when they were handed to
Robert Ker of Cessford (1570–1650, later the first Earl of Roxburghe) by King
James VI.
The country house John, Earl of Roxburghe (1680–1741), played a role in securing the
Union of England and Scotland in 1707, and was rewarded by being created Duke of Roxburghe. He commissioned the Scottish architect
William Adam (1689–1748), father of
Robert Adam, to design a new mansion incorporating the earlier tower house. It was built between 1721 and 1726, and comprised a plain block, with towers at each corner. Pavilions on either side housed stables and kitchens. Around 1837,
James Innes-Ker, 6th Duke of Roxburghe (1816–1879) commissioned the fashionable architect
William Henry Playfair to remodel and rebuild the plain
Georgian mansion house he had inherited. The present form of the building is the result of Playfair's work, and is in a similar style to his buildings at
Donaldson's College, Edinburgh. In 1903,
Henry Innes-Ker, 8th Duke of Roxburghe married the American heiress
Mary Goelet. She brought with her from her
Long Island home a set of
Gobelins Manufactory tapestries that were incorporated into the ballroom in the 1930s, and added to the collection several modern pictures by
Walter Sickert and
Henri Matisse, among others. On 19 July 2022, A record of 35.1°C was measured in this area; this is
Scotland's hottest temperature. ==In popular culture==