Publication Account

Date 1980

Event ID 1018000

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1018000

Lochmaben was a castle which belonged to the Bruces of Annandale and later to the Earls of Douglas until their forfeiture in 1440. Thereafter it was crown property and was allowed to decay irretrievably. An amount of confusion exists as to the particular site in question: the later stone built castle however, may be taken to be later than 1300.

The initial Norman fortif1cation was built in the early twelfth century as a residence for the Bruce family who were granted Annandale by David I, 1124-1153. The site of this structure was undoubtedly the Castle Hill motte which today serves as the fourteenth tee at the municipal golf course. It is known that Edward I shortly after his victory at Falkirk in 1298 caused to be built 'an enclosure outside the castrum, made strong by a pallisade' (RCAM, 1920, 151), but it is unclear where that structure was built. Some local scholars are of the opinion that Edward built his pele on the iron age site at the south end of Castle Loch, thus abandoning the Norman motte (Reid, 1952-53, 60-1) yet others (Wilson, 1973 9; Anon, n.d.,8) believe that the Edwardian pele was built at the motte.

The fortunes of Lochmaben castle - whatever its site - seesawed back and forth between warring English and Scottish factions. In 1385 Scottish forces under the conmand of Archibald Douglas, Lord of Galloway, after a nine day siege razed the castle to the ground (Reid, 1952-53, 73), thus ending years of English domination. The castle came into full possession of the Douglases until their forfeiture in 1440, when it reverted to the crown. It remained crown property and after the Union of the Crowns in 1603 it was allowed to decay.

Information from ‘Historic Lochmaben: The Archaeological Implications of Development’ (1980).