Castles – Scotland South-West, Dumfries & Galloway ‘Build Date’ refers to the oldest surviving significant elements In column 1; DF ≡ Dumfriesshire, GW ≡ Galloway Build Occupation DF Castle Location Configuration Current Remains Date Status 1 Auchen NY 063 035 Enclosure 13th C Empty, c1600 Fragments of curtain wall 2 Blacket House NY 243 743 Tower 1584 Empty, 18th C High ruin, mainly of south wall 3 Bonshaw NY 243 721 Tower + barmkin c1560 Occupied Tower, entire but only traces otherwise 4 Caerlaverock NY 026 656 Enclosure Late-13th C Empty, 17th C Extensive ruins 5 Closeburn NX 907 921 Tower + barmkin 14th C Occupied Rather stolid tower, entire 6 Comlongon NY 079 690 Tower c1500 Empty, 20th C Entire, attached to mansion now a hotel 7 Hoddon NY 157 730 Tower/Courtyard Mid-16th C Empty, 20th C Entire, attached buildings occupied 8 Isle NY 028 689 Tower c1565 Empty, 17th C High ruin, but only 1 wall near-complete 9 Lag NX 880 862 Tower + barmkin Early-15th C Empty, 17th C Ruin with most of lower storeys 10 Langholm NY 361 849 Tower c1520 Empty, 18th C Truncated ruin of part of tower 11 Lochhouse NT 082 034 Tower Mid-16th C Occupied Deserted,18th C, restored & modified, 20th C 12 Lochmaben NY 082 822 Enclosure c1300 Empty, 1700 Scattered, incoherent ruins 13 Lochwood NY 085 968 Tower + barmkin Late-15th C Empty, 1710 Mainly extensive low ruins 14 Morton NX 891 992 Courtyard c1300 Empty, 18th C Substantial ruin of hall block 15 Sanquhar NS 785 093 Enclosure 1360 Empty, 1700 Extensive unstable ruins 16 Stapleton NY 234 688 Tower c1570 Empty, 20th C Now a shell with modern windows 17 Torthorwald NY 033 783 Motte & bailey c1320 Empty, 18th C Ruins of tower & earthworks 18 Woodhouse NY 251 715 Tower 1570s Empty, 18th C Ruin of part of tower GW 1 Auchenskeoch NX 917 588 Z-plan tower 16th C Empty, 19th C Part-ruin of tower & main block 2 Buittle NX 819 616 Enclosure 13th C Empty, 16th C Fragments, but restored 16th C tower 3 Cardoness NX 591 552 Tower + barmkin Late-15th C Empty, late-17th C Tower roofless, nearly complete 4 Carsluith NX 495 542 Tower c1500 Empty, mid-18th C Tower, high ruin 6 Castle of Park NX 189 571 Tower Mid-16th C Occupied Entire 7 Castle Stewart NX 379 691 Tower c1500 Empty, 18th C High ruin, perimeter incomplete 8 Corsewall NW 991 715 Tower 15th C Empty, 17th C Ruin mainly of lowest floor 9 Cruggleton NX 484 428 Enclosure 13/14th C Empty, 17th C Fragment on clifftop 10 Drumcoltran NX 869 684 Tower c1550 Empty, 20th C Entire, save for upper floors internally 11 Dunskey NX 004 534 Tower + barmkin Early-16th C Empty, 17th C High roofless shell 12 Edingham NX 839 626 Tower c1570 Empty, 19th C Reduced height ruin 13 Galdenoch NW 974 633 Tower c1540 Empty, 18th C? High, roofless shell 14 Hills Tower NX 912 726 Tower + barmkin 16th C Empty, 20th C Entire, with gateway 15 MacLellans NX 683 511 Fortified house 1582 Empty, 18th C Roofless, but otherwise nearly complete 16 Orchardton NX 817 551 Round tower c1460 Empty, 1760s Well maintained, but floors collapsed 17 Plunton NX 605 507 Tower 15th C Empty, 18th C High ruined shell 18 Rusco NX 584 605 Tower Early-15th C Occupied Short period unoccupied, mid-20th C 19 Sorbie NX 451 471 Tower c1590 Empty, 1748 High roofless ruins 20 Stranraer NX 061 608 Tower + barmkin c1510 Occupied Tower entire externally, only remains 21 Threave NX 739 623 Tower + barmkin 1370s Empty, 19th C Roofless tower, low ruins of barmkin 1 Notes; 1. A total of 39 castles have been identified in South-West Scotland, in Dumfries and Galloway. My selection philosophy has been to include the majority of those I have already visited and such others as I think interesting, usually with the proviso that coherent masonry survives; I have usually excluded those which have benefitted from a modern reconstruction which could be described as a rebuild but of course this is a subjective judgement. I could probably have considered many more castles in the counties concerned, not least because my arbitrary cut-off date of 1600 is arbitrary, and a surprising number were built between 1590 and 1610 of which few appear here. So, my gazetteer is best regarded as a sample, albeit quite a large one, and any tentative conclusions I draw need to be seen in that light. 2. To-date, I have visited 33 of the 39 castles on my list. 3. 30 of the castles are towers, 9 of which definitely had barmkins, though there may have been more which have not left significant traces. There are 7 enclosure castles of various types, distinguished from barmkins by such features as scale, and mural towers. There is only 1 motte and bailey with masonry remains, though it is known that the area is well populated with mottes without stonework, which I do not list, and there is 1 fortified house which I could not squeeze into another category. 4. 10 of the castles date to the 14th century or earlier, which is surprising given the Scottish policy at that time of destroying castles to prevent their occupation by the English. 17 of the castles date to the 16th century and as indicated earlier, that number could have been boosted by including some built around 1600. 5. Only 6 are occupied, (remembering that I have excluded a number which came close to being rebuilt before re-occupation), though 5 were deserted as recently as the 20th century; surprisingly only 2 were deserted before 1600, a marked contrast with other regions. 2 DF1. Auchen Castle is a short distance south of a hotel of that name, west of the M74, and 6km south-west of Moffat. It was an enclosure castle, 34m square with northern corner towers, 9m in diameter, and southern corner towers, 4.5m in diameter, on curtain walls up to 4m thick, surrounded by a ditch, and is thought to date from the late 13th century. It was sleighted during the Scottish Wars of Independence, presumably by the Scots, but was repaired later, at which time a barbican was probably added to the gateway in the north wall. The castle was held by the Kirkpatrick family in the early 14th century; they were supporters of Robert the Bruce, and implicated in the murder of John Comyn in 1306. The castle passed to Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, and then to the Douglases, becoming a possession of the Maitlands in the late-15th century. They retained it until it became ruinous, probably in c1600, judging by its greatly reduced state, and by the fact that there are no remains of buildings in the enclosure, suggesting that the accommodation may not have progressed much beyond wooden lean-to buildings, or cramped small towers. The photograph shows the fragmentary ruins of the curtain wall. 3 DF2. Blacket House Tower is west of the village of Eaglesfield, and 10½km north- west of Gretna. The ruin in the grounds of a guesthouse is cautiously date to 1584, and attributed to a member of the Bell family. The rectangular tower had dimensions, 8.3 X 7.2m above walls 1.2m thick, and had 3 storeys. The ground floor was vaulted and it can be assumed that the lay-out was conventional, with cellars below a hall and with private rooms above; the ground floor and a substantial portion of the south wall of the ruin appear to date from the original construction. A stair wing is likely to date to the early 17th century, forming an L-plan and superseding the original entrance with an unusual double rebate for an iron yett and wooden door and also a substantial drawbar slot. It is likely that the tower was enlarged in 1663, but only part of the south wall of the extension remains, set at an angle to the west corner. The tower was sold in 1775 and changed hands on a number of occasions subsequently; by the time Blacket House was built to its immediate south-west in 1835, it was described as ruinous, so had probably been deserted in the late-18th century. It was then converted into a folly and later a dovecot. The photograph is a view from the south, showing that it has become rather too overgrown. 4 DF3. Bonshaw Castle is on a cliff above the right bank of the Kirtle Water, 7km north-east of Annan; the top of the building is visible looking west from the B7076, as shown in the upper photograph. It was probably built in c1560 by the Irving family as a replacement for a predecessor burnt by the English in 1544. Thereafter, the castle seems to have resisted attacks by the Maxwells who were at feud with the superiors of the Irvings, the Johnstones, for the remainder of the 16th century. The castle is still occupied by descendants of the founding family, and together with the 18th century mansion alongside doubles as a private residence and a wedding venue. The tower has dimensions, 11 X 8m and is of height 10.5m to the wall walk. The lay-out is conventional with a vaulted basement containing a prison as well as store-rooms, a hall above, and 2 floors with private rooms at the top. There are traces of a barmkin wall, and there must have been ancillary buildings, given that the main block contained no kitchen.