Cardoness Castle is a well-preserved 15th-century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...

just south west of

Gatehouse of Fleet Gatehouse of Fleet ( ) is a town, half in the civil parish of Girthon, and half in the parish of Anwoth, divided by the river Water of Fleet, Fleet, Kirkcudbrightshire, within the council administrative area of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. ...

, in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. It was originally owned by the MacCullochs of Myreton. They abandoned the castle in the late 17th century, following the

execution Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in ...

of Sir Godfrey McCulloch for the murder of a

Clan Gordon Clan Gordon is a Scottish Highlands, Highland Scottish clan, historically one of the most powerful Scottish clans. The Gordon lands once spanned a large territory across the Highlands. Presently, Gordon is seated at Aboyne Castle, Aberdeenshire ...

neighbour. It is now in the care of

Historic Environment Scotland Historic Environment Scotland (HES) () is an executive non-departmental public body responsible for investigating, caring for and promoting Scotland's historic environment. HES was formed in 2015 from the merger of government agency Historic Sc ...

, and is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History

Around 1170 the lands of Anwoth were granted by

Malcolm IV Malcolm IV (; ), nicknamed Virgo, "the Maiden" (between 23 April and 24 May 1141 – 9 December 1165) was King of Scotland from 1153 until his death. He was the eldest son of Henry of Scotland, 3rd Earl of Huntingdon, Henry, Earl of Huntingdon ...

to David fitz Teri, a Cumbrian lord, who built a motte-and-bailey castle at Boreland, close to the present castle. In 1220 a Nicholas de Kerdenes and his wife Cicely were in dispute with the monastery at Dundrennan over Cicely's dowry—he eventually appealed to the Pope. In 1277, Bertram de Kerdennes was a witness to a charter by King Alexander III (reigned 1249–1286), confirming a grant by Devorguilla de Balliol to Glasgow Cathedral. On 18 June 1342 Malcolm Fleming, Earl of Wigtown, was granted a charter of the lands of Cardoness, in Galloway, from

King David II David II (5 March 1324 – 22 February 1371) was King of Scotland from 1329 until his death in 1371. Upon the death of his father, Robert the Bruce, David succeeded to the throne at the age of five and was crowned at Scone in November 1331, bec ...

excambion In Scots law, excambion is the exchange of land. The deed whereby this is effected is termed "Contract of Excambion". There is an implied real warranty in this contract, so that if one portion is evicted or taken away on a superior title, the party ...

(exchange) for the lands of Mochrum which the King had formerly given him. He was also granted other lands in Wigtownshire. The lands of Cardoness were in the McCulloch family by 1466. Writing in 1864, Sir Andrew Agnew recorded a local tradition relating how the McCullochs came to possess Cardoness: Cardoness Castle 20080422 03

The McCulloch lairds built the present Cardoness Castle in the late 15th century. In the 1560s, an English spy reported on the castle to

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was Queen of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudor. Her eventful reign, and its effect on history ...

, in preparation for a planned invasion of Scotland that never took place. In 1622 the Gordons of Ardwall acquired the mortgaged estate. Feuding between the McCullochs and the Gordons culminated in 1690 when Sir Godfrey McCulloch shot dead William Gordon of Buck o'Bield. Sir Godfrey escaped to France, but was spotted in Edinburgh in 1697 and beheaded on the Maiden, the Scottish equivalent of the guillotine. It was subsequently uninhabited, and passed through the hands of a number of owners before being placed in state care in 1927. It has been protected as a

since 1928, and is now maintained by

. The castle is open to the public.

References

External links

Cardoness Castle – site information from Historic Environment Scotland
{{coord, 54.8723, -4.1980, region:GB, display=title Castles in Kirkcudbrightshire Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Scheduled monuments in Dumfries and Galloway Historic Environment Scotland properties in Dumfries and Galloway Tower houses in Scotland Gatehouse of Fleet