Cardoness Castle

Cardoness Castle is located just outside Gatehouse of Fleet, Dumfries and Galloway, Southwest Scotland.

Cardoness Castle owes its strength to its position on a natural rocky headland overlooking Wigton Bay, further protection was given by the Water of Fleet, which until canalised in 1824, meandered round the base of the promontory, bringing the sea with it at high tide.

The courtyard buildings to the south of the tower would have housed stables, a bakehouse, brewhouse and storage space, and there was probably another hall, larger than that in the tower. The vaults were reconstructed in the 1930s. Unusually there was no barmkin or curtain wall.

There were six floors in the tower, the bottom two were used for storage, above them was the hall, the main public room, with private family accommodation above that. The arched doorway was once fitted with an iron yett behind the wooden outer door. Ju st inside there is a small guardroom to the left and the turnpike stair on the right. In the ceiling above there is a square hole, known as a murder-hole as it could be used for dropping missiles onto unwelcome visitors, it is more likely to have been used for hauling up supplies.

The ground floor vault was split by an entresol floor, the supporting corbels still protrude from the walls. The lower part was divided by a cross wall, hence two doorways, the larger part has a slop drain in the north wall below an inverted-keyhole gun hole, and two unusual circular stone recesses in the west wall which may have been used for salting or pickling.

The upper part is featureless except for a small window and two wall cupboards. There are two mural chambers at this level, accessed from the stair. That in the south wall contains the murder-hole and in the east wall is the prison, with its own latrine and a small window. A hatch in the floor gave access to the even more unpleasant pit below which is otherwise unlit and unventilated.

The hall, the principal public room, has a large fireplace, now missing it's lintel, with a saltbox in the right hand jamb. The two larger windows have stone seats, there are several wall cupboards and four mural chambers, one of which was a latrine closet. All levels above the hall are now floorless, except for a modern viewing platform.

The chamber immediately above the hall was originally one room, known as the great chamber, this was a private family withdrawing room. It was heated by an elaborate fireplace in the west wall, has a latrine closet in the east, and also has stone window seats.

It was then entered by a door in the east wall but when the room was split this door was blocked and replaced by two doorways entering from a straight stair, leading of the turnpike, in the south wall.

A smaller fireplace was also installed in the eastern half. The floor above and the garret would have provided the bedrooms. The parapet is not corbelled.

The first record of Cardoness was in 1220 when a Nicholas de Kardenes was involved in a dispute with Dundrennan Abbey over his wife's dowry. He was a descendant of one of the many Anglo-Norman lords encouraged to take up residence in the south-west during the 12th century in an effort to undermine the power of the staunchly independent Lords of Galloway. In 1277 Bertram of Cardoness witnessed a charter by Lady Dervorguilla, mother of John Balliol, who became King of Scots in 1292.

The McCulloch Family took possession of the lands in the 15th century, legend dictates that the previous laird had drowned in a frozen loch along with eight of his nine daughters as they celebrated the birth of a son, and hier, who also died, the surviving daughter married a McCulloch.

In 1466 Gilbert McCulloch witnessed a charter, and it was probably he or his son, James, who built the present castle. James contrived to gain control of the neighbouring MacLellan lands by having his only daughter marry Alexander MacLellan. He died in 1500 and was succeeded by Ninian, who despite being sheriff depute was prosecuted for stealing 1500 beasts from a barn and for illegally collecting rents, which should have went to his mother. Ninian died, or was executed for his crimes, in 1509. His heir, Thomas, was a minor. The MacLellands saw the opportunity to win back control of their lands and seized Cardoness. Thomas was succeeded by his brother, Alexander, in 1516. He is known to have carried out a series of raids on the Isle of Man in the 1530s which gave rise to the Man proverb;

God keep the good corn, the sheep, and the bullock,
From Satan, from sin, and from Cutlar M'Culloch.

The constant feuding between the McCullochs and their neighbours was to bring about their financial ruin. In 1592 they were forced to mortgage the estate. They lost it in 1628 to John Gordon of Upper Ardwall, one of families they were so often at odds with. It is not clear whether the Gordons allowed them to stay on in the castle but by 1668, they were back. Alexander McCulloch was heavily fined for assaulting John Gordon's widow. He is said to have dragged her from her sick bed, out of the house, and threw her on to a dung heap. His son, Sir Godfrey McCulloch, shot and killed Gordon himself at their house at Bush o'Bield, a crime for which he received the death penalty. He escaped and fled overseas for some time but, he made the mistake of coming back. He was spotted attending a service at St.Giles in Edinburgh. Soon after he became one of the last to die on the maiden, a guillotine.

Cardoness Castle was now abandoned, it passed through several families, none of whom took up residence. From the Gordons it went next to the Maxwells, then the Stewarts, the Murray-Baillies of Cally, and then back to the Maxwells. It was Lady Maxwell who, in 1927, placed the castle in state care where it remains in the safe hands of Historic Scotland. It is open to the public all year, closed on Fridays, weekends only in winter. Entry is charged and there is a small gift shop.

Barholm Castle

Barholm Castle is a traditional Scottish tower house situated on a hillside overlooking Wigtown Bay and the Machars of Wigtownshire. It was constructed in at least two stages and consists of a rectangular tower with its earliest origins probably dating from the late 15th century and a later stair tower built on the NE side, probably late in the 16th century.

While its history is not well documented, it is known that it was a stronghold of a branch of the local McCulloch family. It is reputed briefly to have been a hiding place in 1566 of the well known figure of the Scottish reformation John Knox (1514-1572).

The castle fell into disuse and disrepair in the late 18th century, and apart from being used as a location for romantic picnics by the owners of the estate in the 19th century, has seen no use since.

In August 2002, Historic Scotland made an indicative offer of a substantial grant contribution towards the restoration of the castle for residential use. Following tendering and the appointment of a contractor, restoration work began on site in July 2003.

North side	South side

Barholm Castle has changed hands three times in the last forty years, most recently in July 1999. This came at the end of two years and two abandoned attempts by the present owners to conclude the purchase. The acquisition comprised approximately 1.25 acres of surrounding ground, including the remains of the former walled gardens. The castle, while in relatively good repair for a ruin, is now under reconstruction and as such is too unsafe to allow access.

The castle was purchased with the objective of restoring it to its original role as a family residence. Because of its status as a Scheduled Ancient Monument and a Grade A listed building, any such restoration required the consent and involvement of Historic Scotland (H.S.), to ensure quality and authenticity; however, the relatively complete nature of the ruin meant that a restoration plan for the building would require little conjecture.

Following a request for H.S. to carry out a Merit Assessment, a first site meeting took place on the 20th October 1999. A positive opinion resulted from this visit, and application forms for a Historic Buildings Repair Grant were received in the early summer of 2000, and the application was filed in August of that year.

A preliminary archaeological survey was carried out in 2000. However this had to be limited to structural recording; internal excavation was impossible because of the danger of falling masonry and would have to take place once stabilisation of the structure had been carried out during restoration.

A visit from an H.S. architect took place in late November of 2000 and his advisory report was received at the end of April 2001. The response to this was somewhat delayed and a final application was not filed with H.S. until April 2002.

The grant application went before the H.S. Historic Buildings Grant Committee on the 16th August 2002 and an indicative offer of a 33% grant towards grant-eligible elements of the restoration was made shortly afterwards. Early in 2003, full tender documents were issued and a contractor was appointed in May 2003.

During this time full plans had been drawn up, which envisaged the restored Barholm Castle comprising a kitchen in the vaulted chamber at ground level, a large living room occupying all of the former great hall on the first floor, a main bedroom and bathroom on the second floor, two further bedrooms and bathrooms on the third floor, and a further bedroom in the cap house. Elevations of the planned north and west, and south and east faces can be viewed.

In July 2003, exactly four years after purchase, preparatory work began on the site. In September of 2003, notification was received from H.S. that the indicative offer had been confirmed as a committed offer of grant. By the end of September, the large chimney on the south elevation had been taken down; according to the architect this was in imminent danger of collapse and "was held in place only by dead load and the grace of God". The weight of this chimney had caused significant "bellying" of the south elevation. However, before further downtaking, consolidation of the east and west elevations was carried out in order to reduce the chance of the planned downtaking on the south elevation causing a catastrophic collapse of the whole structure. This has included the use of steel wire ties to stabilise the large crack which was formerly visible on the west elevation. By the end of 2003, downtaking of most of the south elevation to the level of the vaulted chamber was complete. Rebuilding using the original stones then took place, and by mid April 2004, the elevation had been reconstructed to the top of the second storey. This allowed the roof beams of the great hall to be put in place and a temporary floor for the second storey to be laid on these, in order to facilitate internal restoration at this level, and the commencement of the placement of the roof beams for the second storey.

In the knowledge that once restoration had started, the ruin of Barholm Castle as it has been for more than two centuries would never again be seen, comprehensive internal and external photographic records were made. To add to this a watercolour of the south face was painted by Pat Ross, and a detailed pencil drawing from the north west was carried out by a local artist, Andrew Briggs.

It is hoped that restoration to a habitable tower house will be complete early in 2005.