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3 Castles in Dumfries & Galloway

Drumcoltran Castle (Tower): In 1550, the lordship of Kirkcunzeon passed from the Herries family to the Maxwells of Caerlaverock, when a son of Lord Maxwell married Agnes Herries. The couple may have built Drumcoltran Tower soon after. It possibly began as a simple rectangular tower, with a projecting wing added at the end of the 1500s, including a new entrance and the spiral stair. But the building history is not clear. Drumcoltran Tower has always had a close association with farming and the land. In 1668 the Inglis family acquired the tower, and a descendant built the current nearby farmhouse and steading in the 1700s. The tower was home to farm servants until its abandonment in the 1800s. A Jacobean tower Drumcoltran is a fairly typical towerhouse. The tower consists of three storeys and a garret, with a corbelled parapet at the top. Unusually, its corners are rounded and not angled. The ground floor is a kitchen and storeroom, while the first floor originally contained the laird’s hall, heated by a huge fireplace. This large room was later divided and a second fireplace added. Most of the window openings were enlarged in the 1700s. Caerlaverock Castle: Caerlaverock’s triangular shape is unique among British castles. A walk around the castle gives a sense of its strength, economy of form and pleasing geometry. Three lengths of defensive curtain wall are linked at their three angles by high corner towers. On the north side is an impressive twin-towered gatehouse, where the Maxwells had their private rooms. The Maxwells repaired and upgraded Caerlaverock over the years. The impressive machicolations (slotted defences) at the top of each tower date from the late 1300s or early 1400s – by which time the Wars of Independence with England had taken their toll. Inside the castle walls is the remarkable Nithsdale Lodging, built in the 1630s by Robert Maxwell, 1st Earl of Nithsdale. Its attractive façade, with its ornate Renaissance stone carvings, is a sharp contrast to the severe castle walls. Tale of two sieges Caerlaverock was besieged and captured on numerous occasions, but two sieges in particular stand out. The first, in July 1300, involved Edward I himself. The small garrison surrendered within two days of facing the full might of the English king’s army. A contemporary account of the siege is one of the most fascinating recorded for any castle in the British Isles. The second siege, in 1640, was the castle’s last. It was brought about by Lord Maxwell’s loyalty to Charles I during his struggles with the Covenanters. The garrison held out for 13 weeks before surrendering. Afterwards the castle was stripped of valuable fixtures and fittings and its great south curtain wall demolished so that Caerlaverock could never again be used as a place of defence. Morton Castle: An enigma There’s plenty of debate about Morton Castle’s origins. Some suggest it was built as early as 1260, while others, citing an order for the castle’s destruction in 1372, say the present castle is a replacement built in the 1400s. Architectural evidence supports a date around 1300. Similarly, we don’t know who built the castle. Its site is traditionally linked with the Gallovidian Ralph fitz Dunegal, native lord of Nithsdale, who is believed to have held a stronghold at Morton. However the survival is not this stronghold. The barony of Morton was in the hands of Sir Thomas Randolph by the end of the 1200s, around when the castle may have been built. He may have created a deer park in the surrounding hills. The Douglases of Drumlanrig, a powerful local branch of the Douglas family, came to occupy the castle in the 1500s. It was reportedly burnt by James VI in 1588, during a campaign against the fervent Catholic Lord Maxwell, Earl of Morton. The castle remained occupied by the Douglases after this, but it had fallen into ruin after 1714. Impressive construction Morton is a hall-house, a kind of castle defined by a first-floor hall above an undercroft. It would have been surrounded by a curtain wall, probably with a circular tower at its apex. Architectural details on Morton Castle suggest it could be the work of an English master mason. The D-shaped towers of its impressive gatehouse stood back-to-back, similar to the Black Gate at Newcastle Castle, built in 1245. Music: https://pixabay.com All music Wrote & performed by Lexin Music Track 1 ( Natural Landscape) Track 2 ( Desire for Freedom) Track 3 ( Midnight)