The castles of the Dumfries and Galloway area are also known as ‘grand’. Though the area is now on the cultural forefront of the nation, famend for its writers and artists, the castles and fort ruins in the world are identified to have performed a significant half in the historical past of Scotland.
Caerlaverock Fortress, Dumfries
Courting again to the thirteenth Century, the sumptuous medieval Caerlaverock Fortress, with its distinctive, triangular-formed pink sandstone partitions is positioned in the Caerlaverock Nationwide Nature Reserve close to the English border. The fort is uncommon in that it has witnessed a reasonably pendulum possession – initially the English, then the Scots in 1356, the English once more in 1544 and the (*5*) as soon as extra in 1570. Nonetheless, after some 30 years of peace, the proprietor Robert Maxwell transformed it right into a household dwelling in 1634. Nonetheless, following one other assault, this time by the Covenanters, the fort fell into disrepair till coming into Historic Scotland’s possession in 1964. It now has, amongst a number of sights, a youngsters’s journey park and great nature trails.
Drumlanrig Fortress, Thornhill
Drumlanrig Fortress is a big ‘pink’ sandstone baroque nation home close to the village of Thornhill constructed between 1684 and 1691, very a lot so the first Duke of Queensberry, William Douglas, may differentiate his household’s standing as one of the crucial influential in Scotland. It has an exquisite large avenue strategy, and internally options magnificent reception rooms and imposing staircases. At present the house of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry, it’s maybe most well-known for the Buccleuch Artwork Assortment, fairly outstanding and internationally well-known, counting amongst its treasures Rembrandt’s The Outdated Girl Studying.
Fortress Kennedy (Lochinch Fortress), Fortress Kennedy, Stranraer
The fifth Earl of Cassilis constructed the unique Fortress Kennedy in 1607 nevertheless it was destroyed in the course of the Jacobite Rising in 1715. Taking inspiration from France and in explicit the gardens of Versailles, the third Earl of Stair, into whose household the land and fort had handed, modelled the gardens at Fortress Kennedy on what he had seen. Lochinch Fortress was constructed in the course of the nineteenth Century extra as a self-enough residence, with even its personal gasoline provide, reasonably than as a fort with defences. The unbelievable gardens and ruins of Fortress Kennedy nonetheless make an enjopyable time out.
Orchardton Tower, Fortress Douglas
Constructed in 1456, and though now a spoil, the 11m excessive, 9m diameter Orchardton Tower nonetheless retains a lot of its unique, if uncommon, attraction. It has seen a assorted possession, due, unusually, to inside home issues reasonably than battle and battle. It was handed to the Crown in 1555 because of a household feud over possession, the first Baronet of Orchardton has a interval in residence from 1615, the seventh Baronet of Orchardton went bankrupt in 1615, and in 1785, it modified possession to James Douglas, the well-known service provider from Liverpool. It then modified arms twice extra previous to falling into spoil and passing on to Historic Scotland.
Threave Fortress, Fortress Douglas
The unusually named Archibald the Grim, who was Lord of Galloway on the time, constructed the imposing Threave Fortress on a wonderful outlook by the River Dee in the 14th century, the place it turned the stronghold of the equally unusually-named ‘Black’ Earls of Douglas. Following a siege, lead by King James II in individual, the fort was rendered unfit to stay in. As a spoil, it handed to the Crown, who in flip, in 1526, handed it onto the Maxwell household. It noticed yet another battle, lasting 13 weeks, in 1640, brought on by the Maxwell household help for Charles I. Nonetheless, in 1913, the then-homeowners of the fort handed it again to the State. The fort can solely be visited by boat and from April to September.
The area of Dumfries and Galloway, with its nice cliffs and miles of unbelievable shoreline has a proximity to England would recommend castles for defence from assault each from the England to the south in addition to from the west (Eire and the western seaboard). An space steeped in historical past and cultural heritage.
