Hermitage Castle

Hermitage Castle

The guardhouse of a bloody valley

Out on the bleak, empty moors of Liddesdale, in the Scottish Borders, stands one of the most forbidding castles in all of Britain. Hermitage is not pretty or graceful. It is a huge, dark, blunt block of stone, with great square towers and a high arch where two of them meet, looming over the lonely moorland like a clenched fist.

It was built to guard a frontier that was famous for its violence. For centuries the lands along the border between Scotland and England were raided by fierce families known as the Border Reivers, who stole cattle, burned farms and feuded endlessly. Hermitage has been called the "guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain."

Dark lords and dark legends

The castle's grim look matches its grim reputation. Its earliest lords included the de Soulis family, and one of them, Lord William de Soulis, became the villain of a horrible legend. He was remembered as a cruel tyrant and supposed sorcerer, and the old story claims that the local people finally seized him, wrapped him in lead, and boiled him alive at a nearby stone circle. The tale is not true history, but it shows how darkly Hermitage was remembered.

Later the castle passed to the mighty Douglas family and then to the Hepburns, Earls of Bothwell, who held the dangerous job of keeping order along the border.

Mary's desperate ride

Hermitage's most famous moment came in October 1566. James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, the keeper of the castle, was badly wounded in a skirmish with a border reiver and lay in danger of his life at Hermitage.

When Mary, Queen of Scots heard the news, she rode out from Jedburgh to visit him — a journey of around twenty-five miles each way across wild, boggy country, there and back in a single day. Soon afterwards Mary herself fell dangerously ill with fever, and many feared she would die. The ride became one of the famous stories of her tragic reign.

Hermitage today

By later centuries the border wars had ended, and Hermitage was no longer needed. It fell empty and began to crumble, though its massive walls were too strong to disappear, and it was repaired in the 1800s to stop it falling down.

Today the castle stands almost alone on the moor, cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. Visitors who reach this remote spot find one of the most atmospheric ruins in the country — a brooding fortress that still seems to carry the weight of all the raids, feuds and dark tales of the old frontier.