Hermitage Castle - Liddesdale,
Borders, Scotland (HS)
Hermitage Castle is one of the most remote that we have visited. On the
day we arrived, the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing, which meant we
had an unexpectedly cheerful view of these huge ruins. Everything we had ever heard about
Hermitage lead us to expect a forbidding and glowering presence, but we were met with a
warm greeting by the Historic Scotland custodian and walked around the undulating
earthworks to get a close up view of the Douglas stronghold.
The name 'Hermitage' probably comes from an ancient holy man who used
the site near Liddel Water as a remote and isolated place for contemplation and prayer.
Its strategic position in the dale between Scotland and England meant that from early
times it was a prime location for a fortified control point between the two countries. A
mid-thirteenth century timber motte and bailey castle was begun probably by Sir Nicholas
de Soules, the King of Scotland's butler. During the Scottish Wars of Independence at the
end of the century, Hermitage was captured by the English, but the story, reflecting the
politics of the time, is far from a straightforward Scottish/English division. Sir
Nicholas had been one of the claimants to the throne of Scotland in the power vacuum
following King Alexander's death without an heir in 1286. In 1320, after the throne had
been finally taken by Robert Bruce, Nicholas's son, William, was dispossessed of his land
and castle at Liddesdale following his involvement in a conspiracy to kill King Robert. By 1328, peace had been established between
Scotland and England and English possessions in Scotland were being restored to their
owners. Not so Hermitage, as its position meant it was too valuable to give away lightly.
Not until 1332, when Edward Balliol seized the Scottish throne back from the Bruces was
Hermitage given into English hands, namely Sir Ralph de Neville.
Hermitage's early history continued to be varied as by 1338, it had been
attacked and damaged by Sir William Douglas, who then kept the new sheriff of Teviotdale,
Sir Alexander Ramsay, prisoner at Hermitage and starved him to death. King David II
capitulated to Douglas and made him his new sheriff. In 1346, the English again attacked
and it was Sir William's turn to become a prisoner. In exchange for his restoration to
Hermitage, he betrayed his own king to allow the English army to pass through his land
unchallenged. David responded by granting the castle and land to William's godson and
relative, also William. The two met in the nearby Ettrick forest, where the elder William
was murdered for his betrayal.
Hermitage remained in English hands however, as his widow married an
English lord, Sir Hugh de Dacre of Cumberland. He
managed to hold onto Hermitage despite attacks from the younger William, until 1371.
During his tenure, he built the first stone castle, the remains of which now form the
nucleus of Hermitage. The fine stonework visible on entry to the castle dates from Dacre's
fortified residence. A cobbled courtyard was surrounded by high stone walls with the
residence on the first floor.
When William Douglas at last took possession of Hermitage, he set about
strengthening the building, adding an enormous solid tower onto the stonework. When he
died in1384, his son didn't have much time for further improvements, dying at the battle
of Otterburn in 1388 and Hermitage passed to George Douglas, illegitimate son of the tower
builder. He was the founder of the 'Red' Douglases and he added the four corner towers to
the castle. The great arches of stone between the towers at Hermitage which give it its
individuality, were constructed for practical rather than aesthetic reasons. Around the
top of the castle, timber fighting platforms were erected in time of trouble and it was
much easier to build these around straight walls rather than go around the corners of the
towers.
In the late fifteenth century, Hermitage was taken from the Douglases
after a plot was exposed to again ally themselves with the English. The castle was
exchanged for that of Bothwell in Lanarkshire, a less strategically dangerous location.
The new owner was Patrick Hepburn, first Earl of Bothwell. The loyalty of the new owner's
descendants was again in question as the third Earl was forced to hand over Hermitage to
James V and spent several years in prison. Under the infant Mary Queen of Scots, he
regained Liddesdale, but in 1550, yet another plot to allow the English use of Hermitage
meant that the control went back to the Scottish Crown.
James Hepburn, the fourth Earl, proved just as fickle as his forebears.
He was implicated in the plot to kill Lord Darnley, Mary Queen of Scots' second husband
and he later deserted her after becoming her third husband. Before Darnley's death
however, Mary rode out to visit Bothwell at Hermitage from Jedburgh Abbey, some distance away and the arduous
journey caused scandal and illness to the Queen. By this date, the castle had undergone
some modernisation, with the emphasis on comfort increased. The fighting platforms had
disappeared, with a permanent wall-walk replacing them. Wide gun-holes had replaced narrow
arrow-slits to accommodate the new artillery and the ravelin to the west of the castle
built to provide an outer fighting platform for further artillery. Bothwell's nephew
Francis Stewart succeeded him, but again, he couldn't get on with James VI and Hermitage
was forfeited back to the Crown in 1591 and 1594. Hermitage then passed into the hands of
Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm and Buccleuch, the rescuer of Kinmont Willie Armstrong from Carlisle Castle in 1596.
The succession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of England in 1603
marked an end to the centuries of border warfare and castles like Hermitage gradually
declined. In the early nineteenth century, Sir Walter Scott the writer had a portrait
painted showing Hermitage in the background and there was a resurgence of interest in the
old legends and folk-tales surrounding such sites. Repairs were carried out by the fifth
Duke of Buccleuch in order to prevent the castle fabric deteriorating further and it
passed into State care in 1930.
