Langholm Lodge was a summer residence for the Duke of Buccleuch and his family. He would invite distinguished guests to stay, go shooting on his grouse moor and play cricket on the ground behind the lodge.

The Duke’s grouse moor was on the other side of Whita Hill in the background of the photo below.

Crossing the River Esk close to the lodge is the Duchess Bridge, built in 1813 and now probably the oldest surviving cast iron bridge in Scotland. It replaced a decaying wooden structure, also called the Duchess Bridge, both bridges being named after Elizabeth Scott (1743-1827), Duchess of Buccleuch. Her husband Henry Scott (1746-1812), 3rd Duke of Buccleuch, died the year before the iron bridge’s construction.