Scotland · 14th century
Threave Castle is situated on an island in the River Dee, 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) west of Castle Douglas in the historical county of Kirkcudbrightshire in the Dumfries and Galloway region of Scotland.
Built in the 1370s by Archibald the Grim, it was a stronghold of the "Black Douglases", Earls of Douglas and Lords of Galloway, until their fall in 1455. For part of this time, the castle and the lordship of Galloway were controlled by Princess Margaret, daughter of Robert III and widow of Archibald Douglas, 4th Earl of Douglas. In 1449 Threave was regained by William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas, Scotland's most powerful magnate, who controlled extensive lands and numerous castles. He fortified Threave with an "artillery house", a sophisticated defence for its time. The excessive power of the Black Douglas lords led to their overthrow by James II in 1455, after which Threave was besieged and captured by the King's men.
It became a royal castle, and in the 16th century hereditary responsibility for Threave was given to the Lords Maxwell. It was briefly held by the English in the 1540s, but did not see serious action until the Bishops' Wars, when in 1640 a royalist garrison was besieged by a force of Covenanters. Partially dismantled, the castle remained largely unused until given into state care in 1913. The ruins, comprising the substantially complete tower house and the L-shaped artillery house, are today maintained by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument. The castle complex is open to the public.
Text adapted from “Threave Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Threave Castle ranks #1,304 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #44 of the 226 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1369, it is older than 54% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 755 atlas entries founded in the 14th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,634 times in the last 60 days, more than 85% of the atlas. 3 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.
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