Renfrew Castle was situated at the

royal burgh A royal burgh ( ) was a type of Scottish burgh which had been founded by, or subsequently granted, a royal charter. Although abolished by law in 1975, the term is still used by many former royal burghs. Most royal burghs were either created by ...

Renfrew Renfrew (; ; ) is a town west of Glasgow in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. It is the historic county town of Renfrewshire. Called the "Cradle of the Royal Stewarts" for its early link with Scotland's former royal house, Renfrew gaine ...

, Scotland, which is near the confluence of the

River Clyde The River Clyde (, ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde, in the west of Scotland. It is the eighth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the second longest in Scotland after the River Tay. It runs through the city of Glasgow. Th ...

and the

River Cart The River Cart is a tributary of the River Clyde, Scotland, which it joins from the west roughly midway between the towns of Erskine and Renfrew and opposite the town of Clydebank. The River Cart itself is very short, being formed from the conf ...

. The original 12th-century castle was built by

Walter fitz Alan Walter FitzAlan (1177) was a twelfth-century Anglo-Norman baron who became a Scottish magnate and Steward of Scotland. He was a younger son of Alan fitz Flaad and Avelina de Hesdin. In about 1136, Walter entered into the service of David I, K ...

, upon a river islet known as the King's Inch. This was replaced in the 13th century with a new castle by the road to the Clyde ferry, which became a royal castle under King Robert II. In the 15th century, the King's Inch site was rebuilt as Inch Castle by Sir John Ross. Both castles were demolished in the 18th century and nothing remains above ground at either site.

History

12th century castle

The King's Inch was formerly an island in the

, and was among the lands granted to

by King David I in the mid-12th century, when Walter was also made first hereditary

Steward of Scotland Prince and Great Steward of Scotland is one of the titles of the heir apparent to the British throne. The holder since 8 September 2022 is Prince William, who bears the other Scottish titles of Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Lord of the ...

. The castle was constructed from wood with stone foundations, and may have been a

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

. The strategic location of this castle was designed to prevent the eastward expansion of

Somerled Somerled (died 1164), known in Middle Irish as Somairle, Somhairle, and Somhairlidh, and in Old Norse as Sumarliði , was a mid-12th-century Norse-Gaelic lord who, through marital alliance and military conquest, rose in prominence to create the ...

's lordship in Argyll and the Isles.

Renfrew Castle

In the 13th century the Stewart family, descendants of Walter fitz Alan, constructed a new residence at the north end of the old High Street of Renfrew. This castle has been attributed to James, 5th High Steward (died 1309). It was captured by the English during the

Wars of Scottish Independence The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th and 14th centuries. The First War (1296–1328) began with the English invasion of Scotla ...

, and King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

granted Renfrew to

Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln (c. 1251February 1311), Baron of Pontefract, Lord of Bowland, Baron of Halton and hereditary Constable of Chester, was an Kingdom of England, English nobleman and confidant of King Edward I of England, Edward I. He ...

, in 1301. In 1310 King

Edward II of England Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also known as Edward of Caernarfon or Caernarvon, was King of England from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir to the throne follo ...

ordered that the castle and burgh be sacked after he spent one night at the castle. Renfrew was then given in a charter by

Edward Balliol Edward Balliol or Edward de Balliol (; – January 1364) was a claimant to the Scottish throne during the Second War of Scottish Independence. With English help, he ruled parts of the kingdom from 1332 to 1356. Early life Edward was the el ...

to David de Strathbogie, Earl of Atholl, in 1332. The Stewarts with the help of Sir Colin Campbell of Lochow later recaptured Renfrew Castle. Robert, 7th High Steward, is traditionally said to have been born at Renfrew Castle. On his accession as King Robert II in 1371, the castle became a royal residence. The castle was visited by monarchs including

James IV James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauch ...

, who stayed there when visiting

Paisley Abbey Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the River Cart, White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, base ...

. In the 18th century, the castle was dismantled and the stone used to build soap works. This was replaced by Castlehill House, which was itself demolished, and the ground now forms a playground surrounded by modern buildings. The name Castlehill Gardens and a low mound can still be seen, though excavations in 1997 discovered no evidence of the castle other than pottery sherds dated to the 12th-14th centuries.

Inch Castle

In the later 15th century the King's Inch was granted to Sir John Ross, who built a new castle over the ruins of Walter's motte. Known as Inch Castle, this building was occupied by the Ross family until 1732, and in 1760 was sold to Andrew Spiers of Elderslie. Spiers demolished the castle and constructed Elderslie House in 1777, which was in turn demolished in 1924. The rebuilt castle had four stories and was topped by

crow-stepped gable A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in ...

s. There was a central stair-tower,

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...

led out above the first floor.Coventry, Martin (2001). ''The Castles of Scotland''. Musselburgh: Goblinshead. p. 209 The King's Inch is no longer an island, being on the south bank of the Clyde, and

Braehead Braehead (, Gaelic: ''Ceann a' Bhruthaich'') is a commercial development located at the former site of Braehead Power Station in Renfrew on the south bank of the River Clyde in Renfrew, Renfrewshire. It is particularly notable for its large ...

Power Station was built over the area in the 20th century. This too has since been demolished and the exact location of Inch Castle is now uncertain, though it lies somewhere in the Braehead development area. Investigations in 2005 identified the foundations of Elderslie House at grid reference , as well as features on the same site that could represent the 15th-century castle.

References

{{reflist Castles in Renfrewshire Former castles in Scotland History of Renfrewshire Renfrew