Torthorwald Castle is a large ruined rectangular tower at the centre of the village of

Torthorwald Torthorwald is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is located east of Dumfries on the A709 road to Lochmaben. The area was the property of the de Torthorwald family until the end of the 13th century, whe ...

just outside

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...

in south west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

History

The first

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

on the site was an earthwork

motte-and-bailey 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, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...

built in the 12th century. The earliest building which forms part of the current ruins was built in the 14th century.

Clan Kirkpatrick

Torthorwald Castle was originally owned by Sir David Torthorwald in the 13th Century, some of his descendants supported the English army during the

First War of Scottish Independence The First War of Scottish Independence was the first of a series of wars between English and Scottish forces. It lasted from the English invasion of Scotland in 1296 until the ''de jure'' restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty o ...

, because of it, King

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...

confiscated the lands in 1306 and granted them to Sir

John de Soules (Guardian of Scotland) Sir John de Soules (or de Soulis or Soules) (died 1310) was Guardian of Scotland from 1301 to 1304 in the Wars of Scottish Independence. He was a member of the de Soules family. Life John was the second son of William I de Soules and Ermengar ...

, but he died in After John's death in Ireland in 1310, after it passed to the

Scottish clan A Scottish clan (from Goidelic languages, Gaelic , literally 'children', more broadly 'kindred') is a kinship group among the Scottish people. Clans give a sense of shared identity and descent to members, and in modern times have an official ...

, when Humphrey de Kirkpatrick acquired the lands in 1326, and they started the stone structure of the castle that became the Torthowarld castle.

Carlyle family

In 1425 William Carlyle married the Kirkpatrick heiress and Torthorwald Castle passed to Carlyle family. In 1544 the castle was attacked by Michael Lord Carlyle and sacked, in his raid against his sister-in-law, Jonet Scrimgeour. She was reinstated by

Regent Arran A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state ''pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy, ...

- James Hamilton, Earl of Arran - and the legal settlement includes a list of the contents of the Castle in the

Scots language Scots ( endonym: ''Scots''; gd, Albais, ) is an Anglic language variety in the West Germanic language family, spoken in Scotland and parts of Ulster in the north of Ireland (where the local dialect is known as Ulster Scots). Most commonly ...

, and the farmstock in Latin. Michael Lord Carlyle retained the castle until the latter decades of the sixteenth century.

Douglas family

In 1609 the ownership of the castle passed from Michael Carlyle to his half brother Douglases of Parkhead since then became property of the Douglas family, the last resident of the castle was Archibald Douglas of Dornock whom lived there until 1630.

Ruins and restoration

The roof of the castle was removed in the eighteenth century, after it the Torthorwald castle drifted into ruin, during the next century efforts were made to stabilise it's structure. In 1993 the north end of the tower collapsed. The basement and first floor hall of this tower are vaulted and in one corner is a turnpike stair that leads to the upper floors. It appears that the original entrance was on the first floor.

References

* Coventry, Martin (2001) ''The Castles of Scotland'', 3rd Ed. Scotland: Goblinshead * Maxwell-Irving, A. M. T. (2000) ''The Border Towers of Scotland'', Creedon Publications

External links

Overview of Torthorwald

Torthorwald Castle, Dumfries and Galloway
{{Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Dumfriesshire