Showing posts with label Crichton. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Crichton. Show all posts

Tuesday 6 July 2021

Skulferatu #36 - Crichton Castle, Crichton, Midlothian

 

Today I went for a wander out of Edinburgh and along to the ruins of Crichton Castle.  The ruins sit just outside the village of Crichton, on a terrace that overlooks the picturesque scenery of the valley of the Tyne. 

 

View of Crichton Castle, Midlothian on a hill with gorse bushes flowering in yellow in the foreground.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
View of Crichton Castle

 

Crichton Castle from hill above.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Crichton Castle from hill above

 

The stable block with the castle in background.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The stable block with the castle in background

 

The stable block is a very ornate building that stands near to Crichton Castle, Midlothian.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
The stable block

 

In the Fourteenth Century a keep was built on this spot by the Crichton family.  In the Fifteenth Century the castle building was extended around this by Sir William Crichton and then later by others who had either inherited or were granted the castle and its lands.  Sir Walter Scott wrote of the castle in his narrative poem Marmion and also wrote a history of the castle, informing his readers that – ‘it was built at different times, and with a very differing regard to splendour and accommodation.  The older part of the building is a narrow keep, or tower, such as formed the mansion of a lesser Scottish Baron; but so many additions have been made to it, that there is now a large courtyard, surrounded by buildings of different ages.  The eastern front of the court is raised above a portico, and decorated with entablatures, bearing anchors.  All the stones of this front are cut into diamond facets, the angular projections of which have an uncommonly rich appearance.  The inside of this part of the building appears to have contained a gallery of great length and uncommon elegance.  Access was given to it by a magnificent staircase, now quite destroyed…  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see the interior of the castle today, as it was closed due to Covid restrictions.  However, I did find a drawing of the courtyard.

 

View of the courtyard - taken from The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland

 

The first recorded owner, Sir William Crichton, was a man who was remarkable for his time, having risen to prominence through politics rather than through warfare.  He became the Lord Chancellor under King James I and later he also became the guardian of James II.    He was a man involved in various intrigues and his main claim to fame, or infamy, would appear to be that he took part in organising the ‘Black Dinner’.  This was when the Sixth Earl of Douglas and his younger brother were invited to dine with young King James II and as they ate were seized, dragged away and brutally murdered.  Their great uncle, James Douglas, who had also been involved in the plot against them, then inherited their wealth and titles making him one of the most powerful men in Scotland at that time.

 

In the early 1480s the Crichton family fell out of favour and their lands were forfeited with the castle being given to Sir John Ramsay.  He then fell out of favour and in 1488 the castle was given to Patrick Hepburn, who later became the Earl of Bothwell.  The castle stayed with Hepburn’s family for a few generations, but in 1568 they fell out of favour, and it was again forfeited.  It was then handed over to Francis Stewart, the ‘bastard’ grandson of James V.  He carried out extensive work on the castle including having the decorative diamond faced façade added in the courtyard and a rather grand stable building built next to the castle.  However, guess what, he was then accused of witchcraft and plotting against King James VI.  He fled to Naples and in 1592 his properties, including the castle, were forfeited.  The castle was then reinstated to Stewart’s son, and he sold it on to the Hepburn’s of Humbie. It then passed through various owners who all seem to have just left it to crumble and fall into ruin.  The castle is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

 

I left the Skulferatu that accompanied me on today’s walk in a crack in the wall on the outside of the castle.

 

Front entrance door to Crichton Castle.  The heavy, wooden door is closed.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Front entrance door to the castle

 

Skulferatu #36 being held up in front of the door to Crichton Castle.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #36

 

Skulferatu #36 in crack in wall of Crichton Castle.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Skulferatu #36 in crack in wall of castle


Close up of Skulferatu #36 in crack in wall of Crichton Castle.  Photo by Kevin Nosferatu for the Skulferatu Project.
Close up of Skulferatu #36 in crack in wall of castle

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #36 at Crichton Castle, by Crichton, Midlothian.
Map showing location of Skulferatu #36

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are –

 

Latitude 55.839688

Longitude -2.991259

 

I used the following sources for information on the castle –

 

The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century

Volume One

By David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

The Ruined Castles of Midlothian

By John Dickson

1894

 

The Scots Magazine and Edinburgh Literary Miscellany

1st August 1808

 

Wikipedia – Crichton Castle

Wikipedia - Crichton Castle