Floors Castle, the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe, in Kelso parish, Roxburghshire, 3 furlongs from the N bank of the Tweed, and 1¼ mile WNW of Kelso town. As built for the first Duke in 1718 by Sir John Vanbrugh, a better playwright than architect, it was severely plain, not to say heavy-looking; but in 1849 and following years the whole was transformed by Playfair of Edinburgh into a sumptuous Tudor pile-one of the most palatial residences of the Scottish nobility. The gardens, too, already beautiful, were greatly extended (1857-60); the home farm, to the rear of the castle, was rearranged and in great measure rebuilt (1875); and no fewer than 120 model cottages were erected on the estate-all these improvements being carried out by James, sixth Duke (1816-79), who had the honour of receiving visits here from Queen Victoria (Aug. 1867), the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Duke of Albany, etc. John, third Duke (17401804), is remembered as a famous bibliomaniac. His library, numbering nearly 10, 000 books, was sold in 1812, when the first edition of the Decameron (1471) brought £2260, and Caxton's Historye of Troye (1461) 1000 guineas. James Henry Robert Innes-Ker, present and seventh Duke since 1707 (b. 1839; suc. 1879), holds 50, 459 acres in the shire, valued at £43, 820, 8s. per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 25, 1865. See Roxburgh, Kelso, and Cessford.
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