Douglas Castle/ Cairnlodge
This was an accidental discovery. We'd stopped at the services on the way down to Yorkshire and when walking the dog around the site came across what looked like a mini castle. Upon researching it, we found it was the remnants of a castle's lodge, the castle no longer standing aside from a lone wall not too far away, but that was enough for us. We love exploring sites which are no longer there, we wouldn't want Douglas Castle to be forgotten.
Now the lodge that stands at the rear of Cairn Lodge Services is a 19th century lodge which formed the gateway to Douglas Castle. It is called Cairnlodge and is very well preserved, unlike the remains of the tower nearby which is in a ruinous state.
Douglas Castle was the residence and main hub of the Douglas family, spanning from medieval times to the 20th century, including Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas-Home. The original castle was constructed of either wood or stone as was common in the 13th century. Evidence has been found that this was built at some point before 1288.
1307 brought the capture of the castle during the Wars of Scottish Independence, it was garrisoned by Lord Clifford until Sir James Douglas stormed the castle and recaptured his family seat. Companion to Robert the Bruce, Douglas stormed the castle on Palm Sunday while the garrison were at the chapel and killed them, throwing them into a cellar and then burning it immortalising the event as the 'Douglas' Larder'. Robert the Bruce rewarded Douglas's loyalty with vast holdings which resulted in his nephew becoming the 1st Earl of Douglas in 1357. In 1384 Sir James's son (illegitimate) became the third Earl of Douglas and so the castle was rebuilt to become one of the family's strongholds.
Later down the line in the 15th century the family was split and the 'Black Douglases' held a fair bit of power and it was deemed enough to make them a threat to the Stewarts. So James II went to fight the 9th Earl of Douglas in 1455 and came out victorious at the Battle of Arkinholm. The castle, their lands, and all their titles were then removed.
The 'Red Douglases', the Earls of Angus, were on the side of James II and fought against the 'Black' and more senior side of their family and so were awarded their family lands in Lanarkshire which had been forfeited from their elders. It is then thought that the castle was rebuilt again shortly after.
Somewhere between 1455 and 1703 the castle was again demolished as it was rebuilt again when Archibald Douglas, 3rd Marquess of Douglas, was made Duke of Douglas and his principal seat was to be Douglas Castle. This time the castle was built as a tower house with an enclosed courtyard and corner tower. This version of the castle was destroyed by a fire in 1755 aside from the corner tower which survived. Two years later the Duke rebuilt and this time the castle took on the form of a castellated mansion and this was its final evolution as they say in Pokemon. Unfortunately, the structure was never complete as the Duke died in 1761 and so the design was never completed. If it had been completed then it would have been the largest castle in Scotland, but as it was the five storey building with round towers at the front and square at the rear remained and went on to be part of a massive legal battle. The 'Douglas Cause' as it became know, was the bitter dispute between Archibald James Edward Douglas and the Duke of Hamilton. Archibald came out on top and became Baron Douglas in 1790 until it passed through his bloodline and resulted as the estate for the Earls of Home.
In the 1930s, the 13th Earl of Home, Charles Douglas-Home decided to allow coal to be mined from the park adjacent to the castle in order to assist with the employment crisis of the local area. However this went badly as the mining caused the castle to subside and so it had to be demolished in 1938.
From 1938 until now, all that remains is the ruinous corner tower and the castle lodge from the gatehouse.
A final interesting fact about this doomed castle, Sir Walter Scott used the early history of Castle Douglas along with its location as inspiration for Castle Dangerous. Knowing its later history this fitted nicely as it never really got better from there.
Haunted? The main castle area probably is by all those slain men of Lord Clifford, but we didn't go to this part. We don't feel as though the lodge is haunted, but it seems as though it is a bit of a ghost itself as a mini grand castle in a service station. Very out of place, but equally quite lovely. At any rate we are happy a piece of the castle still survives so that the history of Douglas Castle can live on as without it we would never have known about it.
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