Midhope Castle is a Grade A listed building in the West Lothian local planning authority area, Scotland. First listed on 22 February 1971. 2 related planning applications.
Midhope Castle
- WRENN ID
- stubborn-oriel-thunder
- Grade
- A
- Local Planning Authority
- West Lothian
- Constituency
- Bathgate and Linlithgow MP: Kirsteen Sullivan (Lab)
- Country
- Scotland
- Date first listed
- 22 February 1971
- Address
- Midhope Castle, EH30 9SL
- OS grid reference
- NT 072 786
- Coordinates
- 55.99213, -3.48791
- Source
- Historic Environment Scotland listing
Description
Midhope Castle is a 16th-century tower house of a square plan, originally four storeys high with a garret on the lower floor. It is constructed of random rubble, with corbie-step gables and a slated roof. The corner turrets are built of ashlar. A Renaissance-style doorway, featuring a segmental pediment with the initials G.L., is approached by a staircase.
Internally, a turnpike staircase projects.
An east wing, dating to the 17th century, is three storeys high with a lower floor. An old lintel has been reused over the entrance. This wing contains a vaulted lower floor, an oak scale-and-platt staircase, and several rooms retaining portions of panelling and plaster cornices.
Walls on the south side form a court. A 17th-century gateway features a semi-circular arch of ashlar, originally with ball finials, and it once contained an inset panel, now missing.
The castle is currently derelict. Historically, it belonged to the Drummond family, subsequently passing to the Livingstones, Earls of Linlithgow, before being acquired by the Hopes in 1678 to become part of the Hopetoun Estate.
Local climate
Midhope Castle receives an average of 950 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 73% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 55% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 42 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 80% of listed buildings. Of these, 22 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 2 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Nearby listed buildings
- Dovecot, Midhope
- West Gate-Lodge And Gates, Hopetoun House
- Entrance Gatepiers And Boundary Walls, Walled Garden And Linked Outbuildings, (Former Manse) Including North Courtyard Range And Walls, Abercorn House
- Nethermill Bridge, Hopetoun House
- Abercorn Church And Anglian Monastery
- Mausoleum, Hopetoun House
- Philpstoun Dovecot
- Philpstoun House
- Summerhouse One, Walled Garden, Hopetoun Policies
- Schoolhouse, Abercorn School