Qualla: Crawford Castle

Crawford Castle: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Gordon Brown, CC BY-SA 2.0. On St George's Day, 23 April 1390, on London Bridge, a Scottish knight named David Lindsay rode forward to answer an Englishman's challenge. Baron Welles, Champion of England, had issued the boast at a banquet in Edinburgh, presumably after too much wine: 'Let words have no place; if ye know not the Chivalry and Valiant deeds of Englishmen; appoint me a day and a place where ye list, and ye shall have experience.' The duel that followed won Lindsay great fame. Eight years later, in 1398, Robert II made him first Earl of Crawford. The castle whose name he carried still stands in ruins on the north bank of the Clyde, watching the Mennock Pass it was built to guard.

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Image: Gordon Brown | CC BY-SA 2.0

Crawford Castle: Roman Garrison, Norse Lord

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mary and Angus Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0. Long before any earl took the title, this site held a Roman fort, with a garrison of perhaps 300 men, operating between 80 AD and 170 AD. Archaeological excavations to the northwest of the castle uncovered the foundations. After Rome withdrew, the location stayed strategic: it sa...

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Image: Mary and Angus Hogg | CC BY-SA 2.0

Crawford Castle: The Lindsay Inheritance

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John McLeish, CC BY-SA 2.0. The Lindsay family inherited the barony when William Lindsay married Thor's younger daughter, granddaughter of Sveinn, around 1154. William Lindsay probably built the stone castle by 1175. He is recorded as Lord of Crawford by the late 1180s. The Clan Carmichael of Meadowflatt ac...

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Image: John McLeish | CC BY-SA 2.0

Crawford Castle: James V Comes Hunting

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Colin Smith, CC BY-SA 2.0. At the accession of James IV in 1488, the barony was transferred to Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus, as reward for supporting the young prince's rebellion against his father James III. The Earls of Angus held Crawford until 1528 when their estates were forfeited by the young...

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Image: Colin Smith | CC BY-SA 2.0

Crawford Castle: Marquess and Decline

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Terrorford at English Wikipedia, Public domain. After 1542 the barony returned to the Earls of Angus. The keepership of the Carmichaels of Meadowflatt finally ended in 1595. In 1633 the 11th Earl was created Marquess of Douglas, and the castle was probably rebuilt around this time. Much of what survives today dates from this 1...

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Image: Terrorford at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Crawford Castle: Motte and Memory

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Mary and Angus Hogg, CC BY-SA 2.0. The earliest earthworks at Crawford comprise a motte around 5 metres high with a surrounding ditch and a bailey of about 45 by 33 metres to the southwest. On the motte stand the remains of a curtain wall surrounding an enclosure about 20 metres square. Round towers may have stood...

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Image: Mary and Angus Hogg | CC BY-SA 2.0