Cathcart Castle

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Cathcart Castle is a 15th-century ruined castle in the Cathcart neighborhood of the Scottish city ​​of Glasgow . The castle was abandoned in the 18th century and most of the remaining ruins were torn down in 1980. Today only the foundations are visible.

history

The Cathcart lands had belonged to the family of the same name since the 12th century. In the middle of the 15th century the clan chief was elevated to the Scottish aristocracy as Earl Cathcart and it is believed that the castle was built around this time. In 1546 the castle passed to the Semple family . Mary Queen of Scots is believed to have stayed there the night before the Battle of Langside in 1568 and watched the battle from a nearby hill called Court Knowe . The story is, however, implausible as the Semples were supporters of the enemies of Mary Queen of Scots.

In another version of the story, the Queen lived with her family, the Stuarts from Castlemilk , whose fortress at the foot of the Cathkin Braes contained a bedroom that was later called "Queen Mary's Room". Presumably she stayed there the night before the battle. The ceiling of this room was decorated with the coat of arms of the Stuarts, monarchs of Scotland.

In 1740 the Semples had Cathcart House built nearby, which also no longer exists today. They moved out of the castle and left it to decay. The newly appointed Earl Cathcart bought his ancestral home back in 1814, even though he was more interested in selling the building blocks than living in it. In 1866 the castle ruins were still five stories high and were surrounded by outbuildings. In 1927 the City of Glasgow bought the area around the castle ruins and added it to Linn Park . In 1980 the remaining ruins of the castle were classified by the city council as being in danger of collapse and demolished. The site is now a Scheduled Monument , the foundations as a historical category C building.

architecture

The castle was built on the rocky northeast bank of White Cart Water , a source of the Cart river . It consisted of a residential tower with a rectangular floor plan, a floor area of ​​13.5 × 9 meters and a vaulted cellar. A curtain wall was drawn around it that enclosed an area of ​​about 22 × 15 meters. The residential tower stood in the middle of the enclosure. The curtain wall had round corner towers and a gatehouse with twin towers on the east side. The foundations of the gatehouse are still up to a meter high. Earthworks west of the castle ruins were identified as the remains of a bailey interpreted or rings work.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mike Salter: The Castles of South West Scotland . Folly Publications, 1993. p. 129.
  2. ^ Gordon Mason: The Castles of Glasgow and the Clyde . Goblinshead, 2000. p. 81.
  3. ^ David Ure: The History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride . 1793, p. 158.
  4. ^ John K. McDowall: The People's History of Glasgow . 1899. p. 40.
  5. ^ E. Williamson, A. Riches, M. Higgs: The Buildings of Scotland: Glasgow . Penguin, 1990. p. 540.
  6. ↑ Site Reference NS56SE 43 . National Monuments Record of Scotland. ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / lmid1.rcahms.gov.uk

Web links and sources

Coordinates: 55 ° 48 '46.8 "  N , 4 ° 15' 22.7"  W.