Midhope Castle

Midhope Castle is a ruined tower house standing within the Hopetoun Estate near Abercorn in West Lothian, Scotland. A fortified residence existed on the site by 1480, although the present central tower dates principally from the sixteenth century. The four-storey keep rises above a vaulted lower floor and is distinguished by crow-stepped gables, projecting corner turrets and a Renaissance doorway. A carved stone dated 1582 bears the initials of Alexander Drummond and his wife, Marjory Bruce, who were associated with an important phase of rebuilding. During the seventeenth century, an eastern residential wing was added and the medieval tower was adapted into a more comfortable country house. John Hope acquired Midhope as part of the barony of Abercorn in 1678 and enlarged the eastern range, added the walled courtyard and constructed the arched gateway that survives in front of the building. Hopetoun House subsequently replaced Midhope as the family’s principal residence, and the older property was divided into accommodation for estate workers and pensioners. It remained inhabited into the early twentieth century but later became derelict. Conservation work during the 1980s stabilised the walls and replaced parts of the roof, although the interior remains unsafe and closed. Midhope Castle has been protected as a Category A listed building since 1971.

Midhope Castle has appeared in Outlander (2014–2026) and Outlander: Blood of My Blood (2025–). Its entrance road, arched gateway, exterior walls, steps, courtyard, farm buildings and surrounding woodland represent Lallybroch, also known as Broch Tuarach, the ancestral home of the Fraser family. The production has used the site to show the property during the eighteenth century, as an abandoned ruin in the 1960s and as the home being restored by Brianna and Roger MacKenzie during the late twentieth century. No scenes were filmed inside the real building; the domestic rooms of Lallybroch were constructed as studio sets.

In Outlander (2014–2026), Midhope Castle represents Lallybroch, the estate inherited by Jamie Fraser from his parents, Brian and Ellen Fraser. The castle initially appears during flashbacks involving Jamie’s family and becomes a principal setting in the first-season episode “Lallybroch”, when Jamie brings Claire to his childhood home. They approach along the castle drive and enter through the arched gateway before Jamie is reunited with his sister Jenny and her husband, Ian Murray. The courtyard, steps and farmyard are used as Jamie resumes his position as laird, collects rents from the estate’s tenants and becomes involved with members of the Watch. Midhope returns when Jamie and Claire come back from France before the Jacobite rising, and again when Claire visits the deserted property in 1968 and reflects on the family she left behind. Following the Battle of Culloden, the castle represents the home to which the severely injured Jamie is carried and the estate around which he hides while British soldiers repeatedly threaten Jenny and Ian. The nearby Midhope Burn and woodland were used for material connected to Jamie’s cave and his life as the outlaw known as the Dunbonnet. Brianna later travels to Lallybroch after arriving in eighteenth-century Scotland and receives assistance from her uncle Ian before continuing her search for Jamie and Claire.

The location plays two parallel roles during the seventh season. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Brianna and Roger purchase the abandoned Lallybroch and begin restoring it as their family home. A residential caravan was placed inside the courtyard during filming, while the castle exterior appears during Rob Cameron’s attempt to obtain information about the hidden Jacobite gold and his use of Jemmy as leverage against Brianna. In the eighteenth-century storyline, Jamie, Claire and Young Ian ride up the familiar drive after returning from America, deliberately recreating their arrival from the first season. They reunite with Jenny and the terminally ill Ian Murray before Claire leaves for Philadelphia and Jamie remains temporarily in Scotland. Roger and Buck MacKenzie also reach Lallybroch in 1739 while searching for Jemmy, bringing Roger into contact with members of Jamie’s family several decades before Jamie’s birth. For the different time periods, the production altered the courtyard with temporary stables, sheds, windows, flowerbeds, repaired walls and modern objects. The number and appearance of the entrance steps were also changed for particular scenes. All interiors—including the eighteenth-century rooms and Brianna and Roger’s partially renovated house—were filmed on constructed sets rather than inside Midhope Castle.

In Outlander: Blood of My Blood (2025–), Midhope Castle returns as Lallybroch, connecting the story of Jamie’s parents, Brian Fraser and Ellen MacKenzie, with the Fraser family home established in the original series. The prequel begins before Brian and Ellen are married, when Brian still lives under the authority of his father, Simon Fraser, at Castle Leathers and Ellen belongs to the MacKenzie household at Castle Leoch. Midhope therefore represents the property that will become their future home rather than either of those two family strongholds. The castle was used for exterior material maintaining the visual continuity of Lallybroch across the two series. Public production information confirms filming at Midhope but does not yet provide a reliable episode-by-episode identification of every scene recorded there, so it should not be credited with the interiors of Castle Leathers, Castle Leoch or the later Fraser residence.

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