Baldoon Castle
| Baldoon Castle | |
| Wigtownshire | |
|---|---|
 Baldoon Castle | |
| Type: | Castle |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NX42455353 |
| Location: | 54°51’6"N, 4°27’20"W |
| History | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Bare ruins |
Baldoon Castle was a 16th-century castle about a mile and a half south-west of Wigtown in Wigtownshire, to the south of the River Bladnoch.[1]
The Dunbars of Westfield owned the property for almost three centuries from 1533-34;[1] the estate's having been a gift from King James V to Archibald Duncan.[2]
Structure
Little remains of the castle:[1] only a length of the south wall with the springing of at least three walls on its north face, and the remains of an entrance gateway standing 55 yards to the north. The gateway dates from the 17th century, and are described as a good example of Renaissance work.[2]
The gate piers which were part of the entrance to the castle with bands of stylised rock-faced rustication alternating with lozenges. They are topped by cornices and moulded scroll caps.[3]
The gate piers are registered as a Category A Listed Building.[3]
Tradition
A legend told about the castle is said that the ghost of Janet Dalrymple of Carscreugh haunts the ruin, in a bloodied wedding dress. Janet was forced to marry Sir David Dunbar of Carscreugh Castle although she had fallen in love with another man,[1] the impoverished Archibald 3rd Lord Rutherfurd. She either was murdered on her wedding night or died insane shortly afterward.[1]
The story is the basis for Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor, from which Gaetano Donizetti wrote his opera Lucia di Lammermoor.[4]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Coventry, Martin: 'The Castles of Scotland' (Goblinshead, 2001) p. 65 ISBN 1-899874-26-7
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 RCAHMS record of Baldoon Castle
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Baldoon Castle Gate Piers". British Listed Buildings. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/sc-10109-baldoon-castle-gatepiers-kirkinner#.V8A03mdRHL8. Retrieved 2016-08-23.
- ↑ The Douglas Archives The Douglas Archives