This is the final installment in our 'Rooms of Lickleyhead' series. The Laird’s room is the master bedroom at Lickleyhead Castle and has been down the centuries. This is likely the room in which the named characters and heads of families mentioned in earlier blog entries would actually have slept.
The laird’s room is styled as it might have been in the mid-eighteenth century towards the end of the Duff period of ownership. Scotland was embroiled at this time in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745 led by Charles Edward Stuart, better known to history as Bonnie Prince Charlie. Support for the deposed Stuart line was in Britain strongest among the Scottish clans and it is to these people that the Prince turned to find his army and win his father’s throne. The largely Scottish force that he led was initially very successful, reaching as far south as Derby and had they pressed onto London he may have won that which he sought. However they turned back, and he was ultimately defeated at the Battle of Culloden in 1746, the last major battle to have been fought on British soil.
The panelling in this room is original (here meaning a couple of centuries old at least!) and was emphasised at the time of renovation. We know the panelling in the dining room downstairs was added by the Duff family, and it seems likely that the panelling in this bedroom was put in at the same time.
Four poster beds would have been common among the gentry families of the time. They were favoured as the curtains could be drawn to keep sleepers warmer, although it’s likely the original bed would have been substantially smaller! The wall between this room and Maitland is more recent than the exterior walls and at the time the Forbes family built the castle it is likely to have been one very large room. We are uncertain when the wall was put up between the halves but it may have been after the Duffs, as the original wooden panelling does not extend into Maitland. One of many mysteries at Lickleyhead Castle! Possibly it was done to create a separate lady’s chamber. The Jack and Jill bathroom situated between the two lends itself to this theory.
The laird's room has two en suite bathrooms, one in a turret and another that it shares with the Maitland room. The turret bathroom is one of the numerous quirky bathrooms dotted through the castle. The small bath tub is obviously meant for sitting up in and was added by a French family who had a long term lease on the castle in the 1970’s. The Jack and Jill bathroom is for use by both the laird’s room and the Maitland room.
We always leave a few drams of whisky in this room for guests. Help yourself!