Today the house looks like a very grand nineteenth century châteaux but it’s built around a fourteenth century tower (that’s the large square block on the right hand side of the main entrance). And there’s more history than that in the grounds. It lies on the line of the Antoine Wall that stretched from the Firth of Forth to the Firth of Clyde. By the 12th century a thane’s hall stood on the site. The Callendar family held the land until the Scottish Wars of Independence. Sir John Callender was a signatory of the Treaty of Salisbury which confirmed the Maid of Norway as queen of Scotland following the death of Alexander III when he died in March 1286. He also signed the Ragman Roll in 1296 that recognised Edward I as king of Scotland following the maid’s untimely end. He was captured by those fighting for Scottish independence at the Battle of Falkirk in 1299.

Sir Patrick Callendar had his own difficulties during the Scottish Wars of Independence but Callender House passed into the Livingston family with the marriage of his daughter to William Livingston. Unfortunately it was not that clear cut because Callender had elected to support Edward Balliol’s (the son of King John Balliol) claim to the Scottish throne when David II succeeded to the throne at the age of 4-years. Ball was crowned in 1332 after which there was rather a lot of crown swaps but essentially for our purposes when David II regained his throne the Calendars found themselves in some difficulty because of their affiliation with the Balliols.

In 1345 David II regularised matters with the grant of Callendar House to William Livingston. Livingston demonstrated his loyalty to the monarch and they were all set to rise. By the 1440s the Livingstone were the guardians of James II and Alexander, 5th Lord Livingston was one of Mary Queen of Scot’s guardians. By then the originally tower house had doubled in size but still had none of the turrets and additional wings of the modern building. The fifth lord was born at the turn of the sixteenth century and had a reputation as a military commander. When Mary travelled to France in 1548, Alexander travelled with her and remained there until his death. Alexander’s daughter Mary was one of the queen’s so-called Four Marys and his son William, who was a protestant, would fight for the queen at the Battle of Languid in 1568.

William accompanied the queen into exile. William’s wife, Agnes, travelled to Bolton Castle to serve the imprisoned queen. Like William she had known Mary all the queen’s life – Agnes was the daughter of Mary’s governess Janet Stewart, Lady Fleming (making Agnes the queen’s cousin as well). She shared several years of her mistress’s captivity. The Earl of Moray seized Callendar while William set about trying to negotiate the queen’s release. The couple’s eldest son Alexander, who would become the 1st Earl of Linlithgow, also supported the queen and was captured at Dumbarton in 1571. It was another three years before the family came to terms with James VI’s regent even though William returned to Scotland in 1573.

But by 1580 Alexander was a gentleman of the king’s bedchamber. In 1592 Alexander succeeded his father as Lord Livingston. He had worked his way into royal favour as a follower of Esme Lennox and by seizing Stirling Castle in 1584 after the Ruthven Raid. In 1594 he played a part in the baptism of James VI’s eldest son Prince Henry.

Two years later he and his wife Helenor (or Eleanor)Hay were entrusted with the care of James’ daughter Princess Elizabeth. The fact that Helenor was a Catholic did not make her unsuitable. As well as spending time at Linlithgow Palace, Alexander was its keeper, the princess also spent time at Callendar House. In 1600, at the time of Prince Charles’ baptism, Livingston became 1st Earl of Linlithgow. In 1603 the Livingstons’ took Princess Elizabeth to Windsor to return her to her father.

The couple’s eldest son, Alexander, became the 2nd Earl of Livingston while his brother James, who was a similar age to Elizabeth, became 1st Earl of Callendar in 1534. He had spent his formative years as a mercenary fighting in the Low Countries and in Germany. He served James VI (and 1) as well as Charles I but his support for the Covenanters led to difficulties. Ultimately though, he took the field on the side of the royalists. His estates were seized in 1654 and he was imprisoned by Parliament. By then Callendar House had also taken something of a battering. In 1651, following his victory at Dunbar, Cromwell had seized most of Lowland Scotland. That summer Callendar House was placed under siege. General Monck stormed the building with his men killing 62 of the garrison. The house’s governor was among the dead. Having buried the dead and demolished the gatehouse Monck departed, although not before Oliver Cromwell had arrived to survey the scene. Unsurprisingly given Livingston’s affinity, the estate was sequestered and it was General Monck who received the income from it.

The Restoration saw James Livingston return to Callendar and begin work on alterations and refurbishment to his home – a seventeenth century Manor House was added on to the tower. When he died in 1674 his title and estates were inherited by his nephew, another Alexander, who completed the building work that James’ began before his death. Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the house saw more soldiers – Alexander’s own views ran somewhat contrary to those of James VII of Scotland ( II of England) but he was dead before the Glorious Revolution of 1688. The third earl continued the policy of extending the house.

James, the 4th Earl of Calendar showed his ancestors’ loyalty to the Stuarts. He rose in support of the Jacobites in 1715 and was attainted for treason. His son-in-law, the Earl of Kilmarnock took possession of the property but in 1745 he supported Bonnie Prince Charlie (yup he stayed in the house which was looking a bit tatty again), was captured at Culloden and beheaded at the Tower of London.

In the latter half of the eighteenth century Callendar House was sold to the Forbes family. William Forbes was from Aberdeen and was known as Copperbottom from his business of coating the bottom of naval vessels. He was also a slave owner. He was very wealthy indeed, if not very popular with the people of Falkirk. It would be the Forbes’ family who turned Callendar House into a French Chateau.

You will notice that once again the sun did not shine! Good job I just need black and white photographs for Raising the Stuarts. The parking at Callendar House, which is owned by Falkirk Council, is free as is entry to the grounds and house. The history of the house was extremely well presented, as was the explanation of the location of the Antonoine Wall. Even better they did a very nice maple and pecan scone…