One of Scotland’s greatest castles
 

Outstanding Monument
 

Bothwell Castle is one of the outstanding monuments of medieval Scotland.

It owes its origins to Walter of Moray, a northern aristocratic family who acquired Bothwell in 1242. He (or his son William, known as ‘the Rich’) created the mighty castle in a spectacular display of feudal pride.

Their dream was never completed, probably because of the outbreak of the Wars of Independence in 1296. No matter, for what they did achieve – and what still holds us enthralled today – is the great donjon, or tower.

Dr W. Douglas Simpson, erstwhile librarian of King’s College at the University of Aberdeen, has justifiably described the building as ‘the grandest piece of secular architecture that the Middle Ages has bequeathed to us in Scotland’.

Not surprisingly, the Morays’ great castle figured prominently in the Wars of Independence with England. Siege followed on siege. The most momentous was Edward I’s great siege of 1301.

After the wars, Bothwell Castle passed to another powerful noble family, the Black Douglases.

They rebuilt it in a form not envisaged by their predecessors. This too is impressive, with an array of fine-quality later-medieval secular architecture. After the Black Douglases were overthrown in 1455, the castle reverted to the Crown, and its later history was relatively uneventful.