Sanquhar Castle, now a ruin, was built in the 13th century; the ruins are situated north east of Dumfries overlooking the River Nith. [1] Situated on the southern approach to the former royal burgh of Sanquhar in Dumfries and Galloway, south west Scotland, it sits on the trail of the Southern Upland Way. The castle is a stronghold bounded on the west by the River Nith, to the north by a burn, and made strong by a deep ditch running the remainder of the boundary.
The castle was built by the Ross family in the 13th century and then passed to the Crichton family in the 14th century. [2] In July 1617, James VI and I, visited the castle en route to Glasgow: the Crichtons welcomed him with a display so huge that it bankrupted them. [3] Sanquhar Castle was sold by the Crichtons in the mid 17th century to Sir William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, who established the fairytale pink sandstone Drumlanrig Castle ten miles south of Sanquhar near Thornhill. From then on the castle at Sanquhar began to steadily crumble to a ruin, until 1895 when John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, purchased it and attempted to enthuse a restoration of his ancestral home, following successful restorations at Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch in Wales. This was undertaken by Robert Weir Schultz and the squarer and more structurally sound sections rebuilt at that time can clearly be identified. [4]
Work ended following the death of the Marquess in 1900, and what is left of the site is a mix of restoration and original stonework, but still very far from any sense of completion. It is designated a scheduled monument. [5]
Dumfries is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about 25 miles (40 km) by road from the Anglo-Scottish border and just 15 miles (24 km) away from Cumbria by air. Dumfries is the county town of the historic county of Dumfriesshire.
Dumfries and Galloway is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It comprises the historic counties of Dumfriesshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, and Wigtownshire, the latter two of which are collectively known as Galloway. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, 75 miles to the west on the North Channel coast.
Sanquhar is a village on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, north of Thornhill and west of Moffat. It is a former Royal Burgh.
Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute.
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of southern Scotland.
Earl of Dumfries is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was originally created for William Crichton, 9th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, in 1633, and stayed in the Crichton family until the death of the fourth countess in 1742, at which point the title passed to first the Dalrymple and then the McDouall families before finally being inherited by the Marquesses of Bute, where it remains today.
John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, was a landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist, and architectural patron.
Nithsdale, also known by Scoticised names Strathnith, Stranith or Stranit, is the strath or dale of the River Nith in southern Scotland, and the name of the local area. The name Strath Nid may represent the Cumbric Ystrad Nidd; Cumbric was the dominant language in this area from before Roman times until the 11th or 12th century, whereas Gaelic influence here was late and transient. The River Nith flows north to south through the Southern Uplands in south-west Scotland, separating the Lowther Hills from the Scaur Hills. Nithsdale has historically been a strategic area as it forms an invasion route from England into central Scotland.
Clan Crichton is a Lowland that historically ruled Dumfries. Scottish clan.
Closeburn is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The village is on the A76 road 2+1⁄2 miles (4 km) south of Thornhill. In the 2001 census, Closeburn had a population of 1,119. Closeburn is recorded as Killosbern in 1185. The first element of the name is Gaelic cill 'cell or church'. The second element is a saint's name, but none has definitely been identified.
Friars' Carse is a mansion house and estate situated 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast of Auldgirth on the main road (A76) to Dumfries, Parish of Dunscore, Scotland. The property is located on the west bank of the River Nith and is known for its strong associations with Robert Burns who lived for a while at the nearby Ellisland farm. The mansion house is unlisted, however the stables and hermitage are Category B listed buildings.
The Lowther Hills, also sometimes known as the Lowthers, are an extensive area of hill country in the Southern Uplands of Scotland, though some sub-ranges of hills in this area also go under their own local names - see "Hillwalking" below. They form a roughly rhomboidal or lozenge shape on the map with the acute angles being to north and south. It has river valleys along its boundaries to north east (Clydesdale) and south west (Nithsdale) which carry the two largest arterial routes northwards into the west side of the Central Belt of Scotland. A string of small towns have long since developed along these routes. Most of the Lowther Hills lie in the Administrative County of Dumfries and Galloway, though part in the administrative county of South Lanarkshire moves into them around the village of Leadhills and the Daer Reservoir.
The Carsphairn and Scaur Hills are the western and eastern hills respectively of a hill range in the Southern Uplands of Scotland. Ordnance Survey maps don't have a general name for the hill area as a whole. Also, Ordnance Survey use "Scar" rather than the local spelling of "Scaur" - the word is pronounced as "Scar" however. In their Landranger Series of maps, it requires four separate sheets to cover the area.
Terringzean Castle, also Taringzean, pronounced 'Tringan', is a Category B listed castle ruin lying above the River Lugar and the Terringzean Holm in the policies of Dumfries House, Parish of Cumnock, Scotland. The name Craufordstone or Craufurdstoun, has also been used, echoing that it and these lands originally belonged to the Crawfords, as did Lefnoreis Castle or Lochnorris Castle which once stood near the site of the Dumfries House stables.
Troqueer is a former village and a parish in the historic county of Kirkcudbrightshire in Dumfries and Galloway on the west side of the River Nith. The eastern-side was merged with Dumfries to the east in 1929, and today eastern Troqueer is a suburb of Dumfries.
Mennock is a small village or hamlet which lies 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Sanquhar on the A76, in Dumfriesshire, in the District Council Region of Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It original nucleus are the old smithy and corn mill with associated buildings. The site is dominated by the A76 that runs through the centre of Mennock. The village has expanded in recent years with housing on the River Nith side of the A76.
Enterkinfoot is a small village or hamlet which lies 6 miles (9.7 km) north of Thornhill on the A76 on the route to Sanquhar, in Dumfriesshire, Durisdeer Parish, in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Its original nucleus was the old mill with associated buildings, the school and the famous Enterkin Pass and path that followed the course of the Enterkin Glen to Wanlockhead and from there to Edinburgh. The site features the A76 that runs through the centre of Enterkinfoot, the River Nith and the Enterkin Burn that once powered the mill before joining the Nith. The area is famous for its association with the Covenanters.
Kirkbride, previously Kilbride was an ancient parish close to the village of Enterkinfoot, the lands of which lay on both sides of the River Nith in the old Strathnith area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, about 5 miles south of Sanquhar and north of Closeburn. The parish was suppressed and divided between Durisdeer and Sanquhar parishes in 1732. The ruins of the kirk are a scheduled monument and the surrounding graveyard is a Category B listed building with the River Nith in the valley below. The Ha Cleuch Burn flows through the glen that lies to the east of the site with a lane reaching it that runs up from Enterkinfoot, ending at Coshogle Farm.
Clan MacGowan was a Scoto-Irish clan which once occupied the area around the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, documented in the 1300s.
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