Strathaven Castle
| Strathaven Castle | ||
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 Strathaven Castle above the A71 trunk road |
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| Alternative name (s): | Avondale Castle | |
| Creation time : | 1450s | |
| Castle type : | Höhenburg, spur location | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Strathaven | |
| Geographical location | 55 ° 40 '34.1 " N , 4 ° 3' 47.3" W | |
| Height: | 181 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Strathaven Castle , also Avondale Castle , is the ruin of a spur castle in the small town of Strathaven in the Scottish administrative division of South Lanarkshire . The building and its mound are considered a Scheduled Monument .
history
The castle's origins are obscure, but it is believed that it was built around 1350 for the Bairds on a bend in Powmillon Burn . The castle later fell to the Sinclairs and the Earls of Douglas . Following the suppression of the Earls of Douglas by King James II in 1455, Strathaven Castle was looted and razed . Little or nothing has survived from this first castle.
In 1457 Sir Andrew Stewart , an illegitimate grandson of Murdoch Stewart, 2nd Duke of Albany , received the lands of Strathaven. Stewart, who was later elevated to Lord Avondale , either had the previous castle rebuilt or a new castle built on the same site. In 1534 this fell to Sir James Hamilton of Finnart , who had the building expanded. A letter from 1559 mentions that here in “Straverin” Master Patrick Buchanan , brother of George Buchanan , taught the children of Regent Arran .
The castle changed hands for the last time in 1611 when it was sold to James Hamilton, 2nd Marquess of Hamilton . Their last resident was Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton (1632-1716), whose headquarters was Hamilton Palace . In 1717 the Strathaven Castle was abandoned.
description
Strathaven Castle is built on a rocky, partly artificial mound and was protected on the east, south and west sides by the steep banks of the "Powmillon Burn". A fence surrounded the summit of the Mound, of which remains to the west of the castle have been preserved.
The castle consisted of a three-story, rectangular block about 11.2 meters by 21.2 meters and had a four-story round tower on the northwest corner and a small, protruding extension in the southeast. Of this, the north wall and the tower are almost completely preserved today, as well as fragments of the other walls. Inside you can see the remains of the collapsed cellar vault .
A recent backfill with concrete has hidden many of the original details, but the remains of the 15th century consoles are still visible. The round tower has several wide loopholes and was probably added in the 16th century. It has a very low input. '' Salter '' concludes that, although the door must originally have been larger, "it does not seem to have had a lower threshold, as a pillar continues underneath."
Say
When parts of the castle walls collapsed or were torn down, a human skeleton was probably found. An information board outside the castle ruins explains the story:
“According to legend, the last lord's wife disappointed her husband so much that she was walled up alive in part of the castle wall. Nothing is written about her crime, but it is said that she was lowered into a specially built niche and blessed by a priest, given some food and water, and then walled up forever. When a section of the walls collapsed in the middle of the 19th century, human bones were discovered which made this story plausible. "
The information board also mentions the local legend that several secret tunnels ran from the castle to Sweetie's Brae , Mill Brae and the tower. When the road below the castle was built, no trace of these tunnels was found.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ^ Calendar of State Papers Scotland . Volume I (1898). P. 247.
- ^ A b Mike Salter: The Castles of South West Scotland . Folly Publications, 1993. p. 149.
- ^ Gordon Mason: The Castles of Glasgow and the Clyde . Goblinshead, Musselburgh 2000. p. 203.
- ^ Martin Coventry: The Castles of Scotland . 3. Edition. Goblinshead, Musselburgh 2001.
