A Brief History: Caerlaverock Castle

This huge triangular shaped, medieval stronghold with its enormous northern gatehouse and moat makes it an excellent castle to visit in Scotland. Located in the Dumfries, 2.5 hours south of Edinburgh, this magnificent castle is worthy of the day trip (or why not make it an overnight stay in the Dumfries?) and should be high on your ‘Castles to visit’ list.

Caerlaverock Castle was held by the powerful Maxwells for hundreds of years until it was besieged in 1640 - in fact it had been under siege quite a few times in its life! It was captured by the English in 1300 after a siege by Edward I of England. The castle was held by the English til 1312 until it was taken back by the Scots (although it was slighted)

In the 1330’s it was repaired but then submitted to England again in 1347, but then recaptured again in 1357 by the Scots - can you sense a pattern here? In 1640, Maxwell and his garrison surrendered the castle to a force of Coevenanters after a 13 week siege and it was then demolished in sections. Quite the turbulent history for this magnificent structure! Nowadays the entire Caerlaverock Estate is owned by Lady Mary Mumford.

You’ll notice quite a few decorative carvings in this castle, as it was thought amongst one of the brief periods of peace that the castle would no longer be besieged (we know how that worked out) but it’s such a lovely sight to see attention to detail in the beautification of this castle and a unique feature compared to many other castles across Scotland.

At the moment the castle is closed to visitors inside, however the grounds are open and free to visit!

Let us know below if Caerlaverock Castle just made it to your bucket list?