Skulferatu #145 - Threave Castle, Threave Island, Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway

 

Imagine taking a walk on a sunny, summer morning through the countryside while hundreds of birds sing in the hedgerows and trees around you, bees buzz, butterflies flap, and dragonflies appear in a brief flash to just then disappear again in the magical way that dragonflies do.  While you walk, the ruins of a castle tower appear in the distance and as you get closer you see it is on an island in the middle of a river.  By the river there is a wooden jetty with a bell on it and when you ring the bell a boatman comes from over on the island to ferry you across.  Ah, doesn’t that just sound like an ideal way to spend a summer morning? And yup, that’s just what I did today while taking a visit to Threave Castle just outside Castle Douglas.

 

 

Threave Castle – in the distance

 

 

A view of Threave Castle

 

 

A view of Threave Castle

 

 

Over the river to Threave Castle

 

Threave Castle is one of those imposing ruins, a symbol of the once powerful might of the Douglas family, who were at one time the Lords of Galloway and Earls of Douglas. Going by the name of the Black Douglases, they were a mighty and influential family in Scotland up until their downfall in 1455.

 

The castle was built in 1369 for Archibald Douglas when he was appointed the Lord of Galloway by King David II.  Archibald appears to have been a rather unpleasant character who was also known as Archibald the Grim, a nickname that some say was given to him due to his sinister looks and the harsh and cruel way he treated the people of Galloway, while others say it was because of his ‘countenance in warfare against the English.’ It could have been both, given that he ruled the lands he held with an iron fist and also seemed to enjoy battling with the armies of England.  Rising to become one of the most powerful men in Scotland, Archibald died an old man at Threave Castle in 1400.

 

 

Bridge over to the castle entrance

 

 

Threave Castle

 

 

The Artillery House

 

 

Gun loop

 

After Archibald’s death, Threave Castle remained with the Black Douglases, and over time their hold on so much power led to some jealousies and plots against them. One of these being from a member of their own extended family.  Things all kicked off when in 1437 King James I died and Archibald Douglas, the grandson of ‘The Grim’ was appointed the Lieutenant General of Scotland.  He was in effect the Regent as the new king, James II, was only six years old.  Unfortunately for Archibald, his role in the affairs of state didn’t last long as he died of a fever in 1439.  This left his son, William, who was around fourteen or fifteen at the time as his heir.  Various factions in the aristocracy realised that there was now a chance to step in and seize control, one of these being William’s great uncle, James Douglas, Earl of Avondale.  He, along with several powerful allies, including the Chancellor William Crichton, decided to break up and end the power of the family of the late Archibald Douglas.  They engineered an invite for William and his younger brother David to come and dine with the young King James at Edinburgh Castle.  There, while the boys were eating and chatting with the young King, Crichton and his men burst in, with Crichton placing a bull’s head on the table as a symbol for the execution of traitors.  He and his men then seized William and David, dragging them off to a show trial before having them beheaded on Castle Hill.  James Douglas then inherited his nephew’s wealth and titles to become the most powerful man in Scotland.  Enjoying his riches, James dined on the best foods and drank the finest wines.  So much so, that he became quite fat and earned the nickname ‘James the Gross’.

 

When James died, Threave Castle passed down to his son William. William, much like his father, enjoyed committing a bit of murder.  He, also like his father, wanted more land, more power, more everything.  So, firstly he improved the defences at the castle by fortifying it with an artillery house and then, along with the Earls of Crawford and Ross, he hatched a plot against King James.  Wanting a few more backers in his plot he also invited Patrick Maclellan, the Sheriff of Galloway to join with them.  Maclellan turned him down wanting no part in the scheme.  This didn’t sit well with William and the more he dwelt on this rejection, the angrier he became.  So much so, that he and his men seized Maclellan and took him to Threave Castle where they held him prisoner.   Maclellan’s uncle, Sir Patrick Grey, on hearing about his nephew’s plight appealed to the King who wrote a letter ordering William to release him.  Sir Patrick then rode to Threave and delivered the letter.  However, rather than handing Maclellan over, William hanged him from the battlements in front of his shocked uncle.  Sir Patrick then fled for his life.

 

 

Threave Castle

 

 

Threave Castle – East front and entrance gateway

 

King James on hearing of Maclellan’s murder and of William’s plotting decided that rather than go to all-out war with him, he would invite William to Stirling Castle under a promise of safe conduct and would try and reason with him. Surprisingly, William turned up.  Less surprisingly, things did not go well.  The King, after growing tired of trying to reason with William lost his temper and stabbed him in the neck.  His courtiers then joined in and hacked William to death, before throwing his bloodied and broken body out of a nearby window.  After this, things did not go well for the Black Douglases.  They lost much of their land and most of their power.  In 1455, after a siege, Threave Castle was surrendered to the King.

 

 

South side of the tower and the artillery house

 

 

South side of the tower

 

 

South side of the tower and artillery house

 

 

Atop the tower

 

 

Looking up the castle tower

 

The castle remained under the ownership of the Crown until 1526 when it was handed over to the Maxwell family.  It then enjoyed a relatively peaceful time until 1640.  The Maxwells were keen supporters of Charles I, and this led to the castle being besieged by the Covenanters.  The siege lasted for 13 weeks before the castle defenders agreed to surrender and were allowed to ‘march out with, bag and baggage and all the honours of war.’  The Covenanters then briefly occupied the castle before it was decided that it should be made uninhabitable.  The roof was removed, along with the ‘the lofting, doors, and windows’ and ‘the ironwork’.  Despite this, the castle was used again briefly in around 1810, this time to house French prisoners captured during the Napoleonic Wars.  In 1913 the castle was entrusted into state care.

 

 

View over River Dee from Threave Island

 

 

View from Threave Island

 

After having a good wander around the castle and the island, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my visit in a hole in the ruins of the artillery house that stands at the side of the castle tower.

 

 

Skulferatu #145

 

 

The Artillery House

 

 

Skulferatu #145 in a hole in the wall

 

 

Skulferatu #145 in a hole in the wall

 

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #145

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 54.9394

Longitude -3.969712

 

what3words: quality.prank.mash

 

I used the following sources for information on Threave Castle –

 

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

David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross

1887

 

Castles and Keeps of Scotland

Frank Roy Fraprie

1907

 

Traditions and Stories of Scottish Castles

A.H. Millar

1927

 

Historic Environment Scotland – Threave Castle

 

Canmore – Threave Castle

 

 

Skulferatu #138 - Doo Cave, Wemyss Caves, East Wemyss, Kirkcaldy, Fife

On a pleasant summer’s day, I took a trip to what at the time of writing was the brand new train station at Leven, and from there I went for a walk along to East Wemyss.  Before hitting the coastal path that would take me to my destination, I trudged through the towns of Methil and Buckhaven, two places that were once at the heart of Scottish industry and have suffered heavily since its demise.  Even on a sunny summer day they looked depressed and downtrodden places.  Places neglected by those in power, they had that forgotten air of towns pushed aside and ignored.

 

On reaching the coastal path I trudged along to the village of East Wemyss before taking a path down to the sea.  There I soon arrived at the Wemyss Caves; a set of caves carved out of the rock by the sea around eight thousand years ago.  Though a local legend says that they were dug out of the rock by the Pechs (Picts), who were short ginger haired men with long arms.  It was also said that they had feet so wide that when it rained they sat with them over their heads as if they were umbrellas.

 

There were originally eleven caves, though only six exist today, the others no longer being accessible due to erosion or collapse.  The caves were used as shelters by the early peoples who inhabited Fife, and they are regarded as historically significant given the number of ancient carvings that have been found on their walls.  Of the sixty known Pictish carvings in Scotland, forty-nine were found within these caves.

 

Entrance to Doo Cave

 

On my visit most of the caves were closed due to storm damage, so my wandering around was mainly limited to Doo Cave, also known as Dovecot Cave.  This cave acquired its name for a reason that becomes obvious once you walk inside, there being hundreds of nesting boxes carved into the rock.  And though it is dreich and damp, it still seems to be popular with pigeons given the amount that fluttered in and out as I walked around. Then, as I stood very still to take a photo in the poor light of the cave, one rather confused pigeon decided that my bald head looked like a good place to land, making me jump as I felt its sharp little feet scrape against my scalp.  I think it got the bigger fright though, given the way it shot back out of the cave entrance.

 

Inside Doo Cave

 

Inside Doo Cave

 

Nesting Boxes

 

Nesting Boxes

 

Inside the cave

 

Looking out from the cave entrance

 

For many years the entrance to Doo Cave was walled up with an opening at ground level to allow access for gathering eggs or birds, with some openings higher up to allow the pigeons to get in and out. 

 

Doo Cave was once linked to another cave, West Doo Cave, which contained seventeen Pictish carvings.  Unfortunately, this cave collapsed due to the weight of a gun emplacement that was built above it in 1914.  There are various photographs and drawings of these now lost symbols which can found in old books documenting the caves and at the Wemyss Caves 4D website - Wemyss4D

 

Carving found in West Doo cave – from ‘The Sculptured Stones of Scotland’

 

After looking around the cave, and dodging pigeons, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me, on a cobwebby ledge by the carved stone nesting boxes.

 

Skulferatu #138

 

Skulferatu #138 on a cobwebby ledge

 

Skulferatu #138 on a cobwebby ledge

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #138

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 56.161236

Longitude -3.058774

 

what3words: barrel.ending.solving

 

I used the following sources for information on Doo Cave –

 

Archaic Sculpturings of Cups, Circles, etc. upon Stones and Rocks in Scotland, England and other Countries

By J.Y. Simpson

1867

 

The Sculptured Stones of Scotland

John Stuart

1867

 

Examples Of Printed Folk-lore Concerning Fife With Some Notes On Clackmannan And Kinross-shires

Collected by John Ewart Simpkins

1914

 

Wemyss4D (4dwemysscaves.org)

Skulferatu #137 - The Curling House, Gosford Estate, Aberlady, East Lothian

 

On the coastal road from Edinburgh to North Berwick, just before Aberlady, you pass a long stone wall.  A long stone wall that hides behind it the estate and gardens of Gosford House.  I’ve cycled past here numerous times and have never paid much attention to it.  Then last year, during the couple of weeks it is open to the public, I went on a guided tour of the house. Afterwards, I went on a quick wander around the gardens and thought I really should venture back some time to explore a bit more.

 

The gardens, unlike the house, are open to the public for most of the year.  However, you have to purchase a permit to enter them.  This probably puts a lot of people off visiting, given how expensive it is at the massive cost of £1.  But, hey, being free and easy with my cash I thought nothing of forking that out for a visit and so headed off for a trek around the estate.

 

Walking along the woodland paths I spotted in the distance the rather grand pile that is Gosford House.  This was commissioned in the 1790s by the Earl of Wemyss as a place to house his art collection and impress his guests with.  It was then built on plans drawn up by the architect Robert Adam, who unfortunately died before it was completed.  Once the Earl had his fancy new abode he needed some landscaping of the rather barren grounds that surrounded it.  The architect and landscaper, James Ramsay was then employed to create a pleasure garden, and he did just that by creating ponds, grottoes and woodland walks.  So, just like the house, the gardens were built to impress those who visited, and they are still pretty impressive.  There are various rustic type buildings designed to give the gardens the look of an eighteenth century landscape painting.  These include an icehouse and a boathouse, while there is also a rather grand mausoleum with a pyramid roof.

 

Gosford House

 

The Icehouse

 

The Mausoleum

 

The Boathouse

 

The woodland in the estate is one of these well managed places that seems like it was always there.  It almost feels that the trees own the property especially when you come across some of the more ancient ones with their twisted, heavy and ancient branches curling down to the ground and up to the sky.

 

An ancient tree on the estate grounds

 

As I walked around the estate it was bustling with wildlife.  Numerous birds sang from the branches of the trees, insects hummed, and small creatures scurried through the undergrowth.  By one of the ponds, I watched as a goose taught her goslings to fly.  Skimming back and forwards the young ones followed her, flapping wildly.  Nearby a serene looking heron stood still, staring intently down at the water waiting to snatch a passing fish or two.

 

Further around the pond I came to a rather kinky little building with tufa rockwork walls, tufa being a soft and porous stone that was much favoured by the Romans.  The building was originally used as a summerhouse for the pleasure gardens and probably had a thatched roof when first built, but this was later replaced.  In the 1860s it acquired a function other than being a decorative and knobbly little folly, when it became the base of the Aberlady Curling Club and was converted into their Curling House.   When the pond froze over, the club would gather to play their games there and use the little house as a place to get warm, and to store their curling stones and brushes. 

 

A view across the pond to the Curling House

 

A view across the pond to the Curling House

 

The Curling House

 

Doorway to the Curling House

 

Tufa rock wall

 

A view of the Curling House

 

Clamshell bird bath

 

Thankfully, I was there on a lovely warm day, so rather than freezing my butt off I could sit on a bench in the sunshine and watch the trees sway in a gentle summer breeze.  Looking over at the little Curling House it had an almost fairytale quality, and I half expected some character from the tales of the Brothers Grimm to come out and greet me.  Though rather than a wolf in grandma’s clothing or three hungry bears the only creature to come by was a large dragonfly, who buzzed around busily and then shot away off over the pond.

 

After catching the suns rays for more time than was really healthy, I left the Skulferatu that had accompanied me on my walk in a hollow in one of the stones of the Curling House wall.

 

Skulferatu #137

 

Skulferatu #137 in a hollow in the Curling House wall

 

Skulferatu #137 in a hollow in the Curling House wall

 

Map showing location of Skulferatu #137

 

The coordinates for the location of the Skulferatu are -

 

Latitude 55.999447

Longitude -2.86996

 

what3words: gossiped.healthier.orchids

 

I used the following sources for information on the Curling House –

 

Historic Environment Scotland - Gosford Curling House

 

Gosford House Pleasure Grounds & Policies

 

Stories in Stone – Gosford Curling House and Ice House