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Drochil Castle is a ruined
Drochil Castle is a ruined castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
in the Scottish Borders
The Scottish Borders ( sco, the Mairches, 'the Marches'; gd, Crìochan na h-Alba) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the City of Edinburgh, Dumfries and Galloway, East Lothian, Midlothian, South Lanarkshire, West Lot ...
. It is located above the Lyne Water
The Lyne Water is a tributary of the River Tweed that rises in the Pentland Hills of southern Scotland at Baddinsgill Reservoir. It runs through West Linton and Romannobridge, passes Flemington and Lyne Station and enters the Tweed west of Pee ...
, north-west of Peebles
Peebles ( gd, Na Pùballan) is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in June 2018 wa ...
, and south of West Linton
West Linton ( gd, Liontan Ruairidh) is a village and civil parish in southern Scotland, on the A702. It was formerly in the county of Peeblesshire, but since local government re-organisation in the mid-1990s it is now part of Scottish Borders. ...
.
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton
James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516 – 2 June 1581, aged 65) was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had b ...
, Regent of Scotland
A regent is a person selected to act as head of state (ruling or not) because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there is only one ruling Regency in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein. The following is a list of rege ...
, started building Drochil Castle in 1578, three years before his execution by King James VI
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until h ...
. It was no more than half built on his death, and was never finished.
The castle, consisting of four storeys and a garret, was as much a palace as a castle, as Morton intended to retire here from worldly business. The castle is of exceptional interest because of its design as a "double-tenement" with a wide central corridor running through the building from end to end on every storey. This opens up suites of apartments off it on either side. The castle has a round tower, in diameter, attached to each of two diagonally opposite corners. Each tower has two gunloops, preventing enemies from approaching the walls. On the first floor, the great hall measured .
Morton sold the wool from his Drochil estates to a merchant, John Provand, and his tenants from Linton Linton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Linton, Victoria
Canada
* Linton, Ontario
* Linton, Quebec
United Kingdom England
* Linton, Cambridgeshire
* Linton, Derbyshire
* Linton (near Bromyard), Herefordshire
* Linton (near Ross-on-Wye), Herefo ...
carted it to Edinburgh.David Masson
David Mather Masson LLD DLitt (2 December 18226 October 1907), was a Scottish academic, supporter of women's suffrage, literary critic and historian.
Biography
He was born in Aberdeen, the son of William Masson, a stone-cutter, and his wif ...
, ''Register of the Privy Council of Scotland'', vol. 3, p. 769.
In 1686, the castle was purchased by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry
William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry PC (163728 March 1695), also 3rd Earl of Queensberry and 1st Marquess of Queensberry, was a Scottish politician.G. E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lo ...
, and the ruins are still owned by his descendant the Duke of Buccleuch
Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...
. The outer walls consist of whinstone rubble, quarried at Broomlee Hill, dressed with red sandstone. In the early 19th century, stone was taken to build the adjacent farm. The ruin is protected as a scheduled ancient 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 and d ...
.
References
External links
* {{Castles in the Scottish Borders Castles in the Scottish Borders Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the Scottish Borders Unfinished castles Ruined castles in the Scottish Borders