Roxburgh Castle
Roxburgh Castle was a castle sited near Kelso, in the Borders region of Scotland, in the former Roxburghshire.
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[edit] History
The castle was founded by King David I. In 1174 it was surrendered to England after the capture of William I at Alnwick, and was often in English hands thereafter. The Scots made many attempts to regain the fortress. In 1314 it was retaken by Sir James Douglas, but was later lost again. Henry V of England made repairs to the castle after a Scottish siege in 1417. In 1460 James II was killed whilst bombarding the castle, when one of his own cannons exploded. However Roxburgh was stormed, and James' queen Mary of Guelders had the castle demolished.
In 1545, during the Rough Wooing, the English garrison commanded by Ralph Bulmer built a rectangular fort on the site at the instigation of the Earl of Hertford. This was destroyed in 1550 by the terms of the Treaty of Boulogne.
The ruins of Roxburgh Castle stand in the grounds of Floors Castle, the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. These consist of a large mound, with very little stonework visible.
In his books The Borders and Arthur & the Lost Kingdoms, Alistair Moffat argues that an ancient fort on the site of Roxburgh Castle was Camelot. The 1314 capture of the castle is one of the inspirations of "The Three Perils of Man" by James Hogg.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Coventry, Martin (2006). The Castles of Scotland. Birlinn. ISBN 1-84158-449-5.
- Mike Salter (1985). Discovering Scottish Castles. Shire Publications Ltd. pp. 17–18. ISBN 0-85263-749-7.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 55°35′47″N 2°27′24″W / 55.59639°N 2.45667°W
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