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Drochil Castle

Castles in the Scottish BordersRuined castles in the Scottish BordersScheduled Ancient Monuments in the Scottish BordersUnfinished castles
Schotland Drochil Castle 6 05 2010 16 51 45
Schotland Drochil Castle 6 05 2010 16 51 45

Drochil Castle is a ruined castle in the Scottish Borders. It is located above the Lyne Water, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north-west of Peebles, and 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south of West Linton. James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Regent of Scotland, started building Drochil Castle in 1578, three years before his execution by King James VI. 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, 25 feet (7.6 m) 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 50 by 22 feet (15.2 by 6.7 m). Morton sold the wool from his Drochil estates to a merchant, John Provand, and his tenants from Linton carted it to Edinburgh.In 1686, the castle was purchased by William Douglas, 1st Duke of Queensberry, and the ruins are still owned by his descendant the Duke of Buccleuch. 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.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Drochil Castle (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 55.677777777778 ° E -3.3341666666667 °
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Drochil Castle

B7059
EH46 7DE
Scotland, United Kingdom
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Schotland Drochil Castle 6 05 2010 16 51 45
Schotland Drochil Castle 6 05 2010 16 51 45
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Nearby Places

Kirkurd
Kirkurd

Kirkurd is a parish in Peeblesshire in the Scottish Borders situated 3 miles south-east of Dolphinton and 6 miles north-east of Broughton. Tarth Water, a tributary of Lyne Water (itself a tributary of the River Tweed) forms the northern boundary, with the parishes of Linton and Newlands on the north bank. The parish of Stobo lies to the east and south, the parish of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho to the south, Skirling and Dolphinton (Lanarkshire) to the east. The parish lies in the Southern Uplands. It is lowest, at 680 ft, where Tarth Water leaves the parish in the east and the land rises to the south reaching 1,872 ft at the Broughton Heights at the southern boundary. Much of the land is around 700 ft above sea level. The name signifies the Kirk of a place called Urd or Orde, but the origin of this place name is uncertain. The name "Urd" also appears in the place names Netherurd, Lochurd and Ladyurd within the parish and may mean quarter. Netherurd lies in the west of the parish, Lochurd south of Netherurd, Kirkurd near the centre and Ladyurd in the east.The parish also contains the settlements of Kirkdean and West Mains, near the present site of Kirkurd church.It is recorded that a church in "Kercayrd" belonged to the bishopric of Glasgow in 1116. It was later given to the hospital at Soutra and in 1462 transferred to Trinity church in Edinburgh. The original church was located in the grounds of the Castle Craig estate, but when the present church building was built in 1766, it was located further west. Kirkurd Church was closed for public worship in 1985 when the ecclesiastical parish was joined to Newlands and used its church.The principal mansions in the parish are Castle Craig (formerly Kirkurd house) and Netherurd. Castle Craig became a hospital during and after the Second World War, which it still is. The mansion of Netherurd was let to the Girl Guides in the 1950s and is now an outdoor activities centre.The civil parish of Kirkurd is in the Lamancha, Newlands and Kirkurd Community Council area.The civil parish has a population of 218 (in 2011) and its area is 5,704 acres.