Hawthornden Castle – Alterations & Fire Precautions

For years, the safety of writers at Hawthornden Castle, a famous Writer’s Retreat, had been of concern.

Lasswade, Midlothian

Full Description

It seemed as if safe escape from the Writers’ rooms could never comply without major, destructive and very expensive changes to both the internal and external character of the Category A Listed building.

However, it has been possible to over-come the normal requirements of travel distances, fire doors etc by adopting a thorough fire-suppression approach, using misting heads, which do not require expensive pipework.  These are unobtrusive and if ever needed will not cause serious water damage.  This has also permitted the retention of existing doors with their iconic sign-written names of writers on the doors and the preservation of the patina of finishes generally.

At the same time, advantage was taken of the wide-spread works to up-grade the bathrooms and the kitchen, to make the garden terrace safe with a new parapet wall and carry out repairs recommended by the Quinquennial Survey.

“Hawthornden Castle is the first Castle in Scotland to be fully protected with a high pressure water mist system” (Mike Coull, Fire Engineer, 2025)

“…what a very fine job your team have done on the Castle, now ready for another century’s occupation by writers.” (David Campbell, Publisher and Hawthornden Foundation Trustee, 2025)