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Hermitage Castle | |
County |
Borders | |
How to get there |
15 miles south of Hawick, off B6399 | |
History
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The original
building dates from around 1360 and was more of a fortified manor house than a
castle. It consisted of a rectangular courtyard surrounded by living quarters. At the end of the 14th century the Douglas family incorporated the building into a great tower. Square towers were added later at each corners. Two great flying arches to east and west connected the projecting towers. Finally a rectangular wing was added to the south-west. Few openings broke the line of the dark sandstone walls which rose sheer and imposing from the grassy earthworks. At the very top of the castle a series of doors led to a wooden fighting gallery that once projected from the castle. A few hundred yards from the castle is the remains of the hermitage that gives the castle its name. In its strategic position on the Borders the castle passed from Scottish to English hands on many occasions. However, the castle is more notorious for individual villainy. Lord Soulis, an early owner and one of the important hereditary King's Butlers of Scotland, drowned a fellow knight by holding him under the waters of the Hermitage Water, a river flowing south of the castle. After a life of misdeeds Lord Soulis was boiled to death in a caldron of water. In 1342 a later owner, Sir William Douglas, had his enemy, Sir Alexander Ramsay, starved to death in a pit, similar to the dungeon still visible in the north-east tower of the castle. When he joined the English, Sir William, forfeited his castle and his life to its new owner. The castle's most famous association is with Mary, Queen of Scots who in 1566 rushed to the castle to be at bedside of her wounded lover, the 4th Earl of Bothwell. By the end of the 16th century the castle had reverted to the crown and under following ownership's the castle's military history came to an end. The castle fell into ruin but in 1820 the Duke of Buccleugh carried out an extensive restoration. Today the building appears much as it did in the 15th century, one of the most dramatic border castles . |
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