Hermitage Castle | |
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Near Newcastleton, Roxburghshire, Scotland GB grid reference NY495960 | |
![]() Hermitage Castle | |
Type | First phase: motte and bailey Second phase: tower house/keep with barmkin |
Site information | |
Owner | Historic Scotland |
Open to the public | Yes |
Condition | Partially ruined |
Site history | |
Built | First phase: c.1240 Second phase: mid 14th century |
Built by | First phase: Nicholas de Soulis Second phase: William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas |
In use | Until 1603 |
Materials | First phase: timber Second phase: stone |
Hermitage Castle is a semi-ruined castle in the border region of Scotland. It stands in the remote valley of the Hermitage Water, part of Liddesdale in Roxburghshire. It is under the care of Historic Scotland. The castle has a reputation, both from its history and its appearance, as one of the most sinister and atmospheric castles in Scotland.
It is thought that the name derives from Old French: l'armitage – guardhouse. The castle was known as the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain, and the "Strength of Liddesdale".
Hermitage Castle was supposedly built by one Nicholas de Soulis around 1240, in a typical Norman Motte and Bailey pattern. It stayed in his family until approximately 1320 when his descendant, William de Soulis, forfeited it because of suspected witchcraft and the attempted regicide of King Robert I of Scotland. Legend has it that Soulis's tenantry, having suffered unbearable depredations, arrested him, and at the nearby Ninestane Rig (a megalithic circle), had him encased in lead sheet and boiled to death. In actuality, he died, a prisoner, in Dumbarton Castle.
In 1338, the then incumbent, Englishman Sir Ralph de Neville was besieged by Sir William Douglas, The Knight of Liddesdale, known as the "Flower of Chivalry" (this sobriquet had to do with his abilities as a knight, although it is often misinterpreted by people with a rather romantic view of history). It was here that Douglas imprisoned and starved to death Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie. [1] his competitor for royal favour. [2] After the Battle of Neville's Cross and Liddesdale's capture by the English, the castle fell into the hands of the English for a time and was given to the care of William Dacre, 2nd Baron Dacre. Upon Liddesdale's death, brought about by a near kinsman, William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, the castle was given to the then baron but later 1st Earl of Douglas. He enabled the construction of most of the present building, possibly with the help of John Lewin, master mason at Durham Cathedral. The castle remained in the hands of the Black Douglases until 1455. The Black Douglas line had so incensed the King that James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas was forfeited, never to return to Scotland, and the beneficences that they had enjoyed passed to the Red Douglas line, including Hermitage Castle.
King James IV was suspicious of the then Earl of Angus, Archibald, Bell the Cat and his relationship with Henry VII of England, and ordered him to relinquish The Hermitage to the Crown. On 6 March 1492 Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell had a charter of the lands and lordship of Liddesdale, including The Hermitage Castle, etc., upon the resignation of the same by Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus, the latter getting the lordship of Bothwell (but not the Earldom) which Patrick in turn had resigned for the exchange. The Hepburns of Bothwell, then rising in favour with the king, became keepers and lords of The Hermitage.
In time, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, held the castle. Mary, Queen of Scots, made a famous marathon journey on horseback from Jedburgh to visit the wounded Bothwell there, only a few weeks after the birth of her son. Bothwell had been injured by John Elliot of Park. He had captured Elliot with other border reivers, and brought him to the Hermitage. Elliot tried to escape and Bothwell shot him with his pistol. The wounded man managed to injure Bothwell with a two-handed sword. [3]
Mary and Bothwell were to marry shortly after the murder of her 2nd husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, regardless of the fact that Bothwell was implicated amongst the conspirators. After Mary's forced abdication following the confrontation at Carberry Hill, Bothwell, facing charges of treason, fled to Norway and his titles and estates were forfeited by Act of Parliament. Whilst attempting to raise an army to restore Mary to the throne, he was arrested by King Frederik's men for breach of marriage contract with Anna Throndsen, and imprisoned at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark, where he died insane and in appalling conditions. His mummified body could at one time be seen at nearby Fårevejle Church.
Thomas Kerr of Ferniehirst was made keeper of Liddesdale and Hermitage Castle in 1584. [4] Bothwell's nephew, Francis Stewart, 1st Earl of Bothwell received a new creation as Earl of Bothwell, and was made Keeper of the castle. As a grandson of James V, albeit through an illegitimate line, he was viewed by some as a potential replacement for James VI. In 1591, Bothwell was arrested, tried, gaoled and forfeited for his supposed involvement with the infamous North Berwick Witches. He obtained a pardon in 1593 but again became involved in intrigue and he was again attainted, by Act of Parliament, on 21 July 1593. The Hermitage once again reverted to the Crown.
The following year, James granted the castle to Sir Walter Scott of Buccleuch ("the bold Buccleuch"), a notorious Border reiver, Warden of the western marches, Keeper of Liddesdale, and leader of the daring and infamous attack on Carlisle Castle to rescue Willie Armstrong of Kinmont.
The castle became obsolete after the Union of the Crowns, in 1603 and fell into disrepair; by the turn of the eighteenth century it was a ruin. Hermitage gave its name to the Viscountcy of Hermitage, conferred in 1706 on Henry, third son of the first Duke of Buccleuch as a subsidiary title of the Earldom of Deloraine. This title became extinct in 1807. Some repairs to the castle were carried out in 1820 by the fifth Duke of Buccleuch. The Scotts are descended matrilinearly from the Douglases of Drumlanrig, a cadet branch, and sometimes use the surname Montagu-Douglas-Scott, thus maintaining a continuity with earlier times.
The castle remained a property of the Scotts until 1930, when it was handed over to the care of the Nation. It is now cared for by Historic Environment Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government, and is open to visitors from 1 April - 31 October each year. It is closed during the winter season. The castle, together with a series of ancillary features, is protected as a scheduled monument. [5]
Hermitage Castle is the subject of local ghostlore stories where it is reputed to be haunted by both Redcap Sly, de Soulis's familiar spirit, [6] [7] and by Mary, Queen of Scots. [8]
James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney and 4th Earl of Bothwell, better known simply as Lord Bothwell, was a prominent Scottish nobleman. He was known for his marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third and final husband. He was accused of the murder of Mary's second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, a charge of which he was acquitted. His marriage to Mary was controversial and divided the country; when he fled the growing rebellion to Norway, he was arrested and lived the rest of his life imprisoned in Denmark.
Bothwell Castle is a large medieval castle, sited on a high, steep bank, above a bend in the River Clyde in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located between Bothwell and Uddingston, about 10 miles (16 km) south-east of Glasgow. Construction of the castle was begun in the 13th century by the ancestors of Clan Murray, to guard a strategic crossing point of the Clyde. Bothwell played a key role in Scotland's Wars of Independence, changing hands several times.
Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell was Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He rose to political prominence after supporting James IV against his father, and was proxy at the King's marriage.
Clan Scott is a Scottish clan and is recognised as such by the Lord Lyon King of Arms. Historically the clan was based in the Scottish Borders.
William Armstrong of Kinmont or Kinmont Willie was a Scottish border reiver and outlaw active in the Anglo-Scottish Border country in the last decades of the 16th century.
Walter Scott, 5th of Buccleuch, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch was a Scottish nobleman and famous border reiver, known as the "Bold Buccleuch" and leader of Kinmont Willie's Raid.
Clan Armstrong is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Borders.
Liddesdale, the valley of the Liddel Water, in the County of Roxburgh, southern Scotland, extends in a south-westerly direction from the vicinity of Peel Fell to the River Esk, a distance of 21 miles (34 km). The Waverley route of the North British Railway ran down the dale, and the Catrail, or Picts' Dyke, crosses its head.
William II de Soules, Lord of Liddesdale and Butler of Scotland, was a Scottish Border noble during the Wars of Scottish Independence. William was the elder son of Nicholas II de Soules, Lord of Liddesdale and Butler of Scotland, and a cousin of Alexander Comyn, Earl of Buchan. He was the nephew of John de Soules, Guardian of Scotland.
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Hailes Castle is a mainly 14th century castle about a mile and a half south-west of East Linton, East Lothian, Scotland. This castle, which has a fine riverside setting, belonged to the Hepburn family during the most important centuries of its existence. Since 1926, it has been the subject of a state-sponsored guardianship agreement, which is now under the auspices of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument.
Clan Eliott is a Border Reiver Scottish clan.
Sir William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale, also known as the Knight of Liddesdale and the Flower of Chivalry, was a Scottish nobleman and soldier active during the Second War of Scottish Independence.
The Lord of Liddesdale was a magnate in the medieval Kingdom of Scotland; the territorial lordship of Liddesdale was first created by David I of Scotland, perhaps between 1113 and 1124 when the latter was Prince of the Cumbrians. From an early period the caput of the lordship was Hermitage Castle, the strength of Liddesdale. King David gave the territory to Ranulf de Soules, a knight from the Cotentin Peninsula. It was forfeited by the Soulis family in the 14th century and eventually passed to the Douglases, only to be lost to the Hepburns by order of James IV. Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus was remunerated for this loss by the lordship of Bothwell Castle, although the Hepburn Earls of Bothwell retained the territorial designation
Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, was Commendator of Kelso Abbey and Coldingham Priory, a Privy Counsellor and Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He was a notorious conspirator who led several uprisings against his first cousin, King James VI, all of which ultimately failed, and he died in poverty in Italy after being banished from Scotland. Francis's maternal uncle, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, was the chief suspect in the murder of James VI's father, Lord Darnley.
Janet Beaton, Lady of Branxholme and Buccleugh (1519–1569) was an aristocratic Scottish woman and a mistress of James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell. She had a total of five husbands. One of her nieces was Mary Beaton, one of the four ladies-in-waiting of Mary, Queen of Scots, known in history as the four Marys. In her lifetime, she was accused of having been a witch. Janet was immortalised as Sir Walter Scott's Wizard Lady of Branxholm in his celebrated narrative poem "Lay of the Last Minstrel".
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st of Branxholme, 3rd of Buccleuch, known as "Wicked Wat", was a nobleman of the Scottish Borders and the chief of Clan Scott who briefly served as Warden of the Middle March He was an "inveterate English hater" active in the wars known as The Rough Wooing and a noted Border reiver. He was killed on Edinburgh High Street in a feud with Clan Kerr in 1552. His great-grandson was Sir Walter Scott, 1st Lord Scott of Buccleuch, the "Bold Buccleuch" (1565–1611), a border reiver famed for his role in the rescue of Kinmont Willie Armstrong.
Jean Hepburn, Lady Darnley, Mistress of Caithness, Lady Morham was a Scottish noblewoman and a member of the Border clan of Hepburn. Her brother was James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. Jean's first husband was John Stewart, 1st Lord Darnley, an illegitimate half-brother of Queen Mary, which made Jean a double sister-in-law of the queen. Jean married three times. She was also Lady of Morham, having received in 1573 the barony of Morham and lands which had belonged to her mother, Lady Agnes Sinclair and was forfeited to the Crown subsequent to her brother, the Earl of Bothwell's attainder for treason.
Margaret Douglas, Countess of Bothwell was a Scottish aristocrat and courtier.