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Sunday 12 February 2012

Visit to Bothwell Castle

A weekend visit this time – the weather was not too great so the shots are a little gray.

Bothwell Castle is close to Uddingston  and a few miles south-east of  Glasgow. It was started by Walter of Moray in the mid 13th century but he did not do much more than complete the keep. However even in it’s unfinished state it played a major part in the Anglo Scottish wars changing hands several times.   Most interesting was the siege of 1301 when a large English force took the castle using all the classic siege equipment such as mobile towers, trebuchets etc.  It was also used as a base by Edward III in his invasion of Scotland in the 1330s.

The Douglas family acquired the castle in 1362 and rebuilt it transforming it into a major seat of their power in the region.  It did not see any further significant military operations

A cellar houses an interesting display of the military role of the Caslte and in particular the siges with an impressive collection of trebuchet balls.

The Castle is in the care of Historic Scotland.  If you have dogs they are allowed in and there is a good walk around the outside


The tower still looks pretty impressive


The trebuchet balls



The keep from the Great Hall - unfortunately it was not open when we visited


A general view of the castle from the car park



1 comment:

  1. Bothwell Castle is a great castle to visit, used to play there when I was a kid and have fond memories, I've even got a Civil War musket ball I dug out of a wall in the Donjon, a relic of when Cromwell had the place slighted, that's why the main donjon is half missing.

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