Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for Riccarton

Riccarton, a mansion, with a fine park, in Currie parish, Edinburghshire, 1½ mile NNW of Currie villa e, and 6 miles SW of Edinburgh. Its oldest part, a square tower at the W end, is supposed to have been given by King Robert Bruce as part of the dowry of his daughter, Marjory, on her marriage to Walter, High Steward of Scotland; but the main body of the house was built in 1621; and a large addition in the Elizabethan style was completed in 1827. Sir Thomas Craig of Riccarton (1548-1608) was a distinguished writer on the feudal law; and the estate remained with his descendants till 1823, when it passed to a kinsman, James Gibson, W.S. (1765-18 0), who in 1831 was created a baronet as Sir James Gibson-Craig of Riccarton. He was a Liberal in politics, as likewise was his son, the Rt. Hon. Sir William Gibson-Craig, M.P. (1797-1878), whose son, Sir James Henry, third Bart. (b. 1841), holds 1882 acres in Midlothian, valued at £6037 per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 32, 1857. See John Small's Castles and Mansions of the Lothians (Edinb. 1883).


(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a mansion, with a fine park"   (ADL Feature Type: "residential sites")
Administrative units: Currie ScoP       Midlothian ScoCnty
Place: Riccarton

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