Crichton Castle (Scotland 2008)

Crichton Castle is a ruined castle situated at the head of the River Tyne, near the village of Crichton, Midlothian, Scotland. The castle lies two miles south of the village of Pathhead, and the same distance east of Gorebridge, at 55.8411°N 2.9895°W. A mile to the south-west is Borthwick Castle.

n the late 14th century John de Crichton (d.1406) built a tower house here as his family residence. John’s son, William (d. c. 1453), served as Lord Chancellor of Scotland, and was made Lord Crichton in c. 1443. In 1440 he had been partly responsible for organising the “Black Dinner”, where the young William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas was murdered. As a result, he obtained the Douglas property of Bothwell Castle in Lanarkshire for himself. John of Corstorphine, chief of Clan Forrester and a Douglas adherent, stormed and slighted the castle in 1445 in retaliation. William, however, reconstructed and extended the castle, and also built the nearby collegiate church. The 3rd Lord Crichton was a supporter of Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, and his lands and titles were forfeit in 1483, when Albany was sentenced for treason. Crichton Castle, along with Bothwell Castle, was briefly granted to Sir John Ramsey, who forfeited it in 1488.

That year, James IV granted Crichton to Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes, who was later made Earl of Bothwell. His son, the second Earl, died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. Adam was succeeded by his son Patrick, who intrigued with the English against the Scottish crown, but eventually made peace with the regent, Mary of Guise. James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell sided with Mary of Guise during the Scottish Reformation, and when he took English money sent to the Lords of the Congregation, Regent Arran ordered an assault on Borthwick and Crichton, and the castle was besieged and captured by the Earl of Arran on 3 November 1560.[1]

The castle was the scene of the marriage and wedding festivities, on 4 January 1562, of Patrick’s daughter Jean (d. before July 1599) and her first husband, John Stewart, Lord Darnley, Prior of Coldingham, and illegitimate son of King James V. John Stewart’s half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, spent a few nights at the castle while attending this wedding.

The Earl of Bothwell was implicated in February 1567 in the murder of Queen Mary’s husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, and became Mary’s third husband in May of that year. In December, all Bothwell’s titles and estates, including Crichton, were forfeited.

In 1568, Crichton, along with Bothwell’s other estates, was granted to Francis Stewart, son of John Stewart, Lord Darnley, and Jean Hepburn, and thus bastard grandson of James V. Francis travelled in Europe, and he designed the very modern Italianate north range in the 1580s. He was created Earl Bothwell in 1577, but conspired against the young James VI, and was accused of witchcraft. He forfeited his estates in turn in 1592, and was forced to flee to Naples. His son Francis was reinstated, but laboured under his father’s debts, and sold Crichton to the Hepburns of Humbie.

In 1956, the castle was given into state care by its owner, Major Henry Callander of Preston Hall. J. M. W. Turner painted the castle, and it features in Sir Walter Scott’s Marmion. Crichton was also used as a location in the 1995 film Rob Roy. It is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument administered by Historic Scotland.

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Crichton Castle ist eine Schloss- bzw. Burgruine nahe der Quelle des Tyne in Schottland beim Ort Crichton, Midlothian, südlich von Edinburgh.

Im späten 14. Jahrhundert ließ John de Crichton ein Turmhaus als Familiensitz errichten. Sein Sohn William wurde im Jahre 1443 in den Adelsstand erhoben und diente dem Königreich Schottland als Lord-Kanzler. Nach der Zerstörung des Schlosses 1445, ein Rache-Akt dafür, dass William Crichton Mitveranstalter des sogenannten Schwarzen Essens (Black Dinner) 1440 war, an dem der Earl of Douglas ermordet wurde, ließ William das Gebäude wiederherstellen und erweitern. Gleichzeitig errichtete er die nahe gelegene Kirche.

Der dritte Lord Crichton, Anhänger von Alexander Stewart, 1. Duke of Albany, verlor 1483 nach dessen Flucht nach Frankreich Adelstitel und Ländereien. 1488 wurden das Schloss Crichton samt dem ebenfalls von den Crichtons erworbenen Schloss Bothwell Sir John Ramsey übereignet, der allerdings 1488 seinerseits in Ungnade fiel. Der schottische König Jakob IV. schenkte den ehemaligen Besitz der Crichtons Patrick Hepburn, Lord Hailes, dem späteren Earl of Bothwell. Wegen Rolle von James Hepburn, 4. Earl of Bothwell, während der schottischen Reformation wurde Schloss Crichton belagert und vom Earl of Arran am 3. November 1560 eingenommen. 1567 war der Earl of Bothwell in die Ermordung Henry Stuarts, des Ehemanns der schottischen Königin Maria Stuart, verwickelt (wahrscheinlich der Auftraggeber) und wurde ihr dritter Ehemann. Nach der Abdankung Maria Stuarts im Juni 1567 verlor er im Dezember 1567 Titel und Güter. Diese erhielt 1568 Francis Stewart, ein illegitimer Enkel von König Jakob V. Stewart, angeregt durch eine Bereisung des Kontinents, ließ in den 1580ern nach einem eigenen Entwurf den italienisch inspirierten Nordflügel von Schloss Crichton errichten. Steward erhielt 1577 den Titel eines Earl of Bothwell, konspirierte gegen Jakob I. und wurde wegen Hexerei angeklagt, woraufhin er Titel und Güter verlor. Nach seiner Flucht nach Neapel erhielt sein Sohn Francis Schlösser und Ländereien, litt allerdings unter den Schulden des Vaters und veräußerte schließlich Crichton an die Hepburns of Humbie.

1956 übergab der letzte Eigentümer, Major Henry Callander Schloss Crichton in die Verwaltung des Staates. Das von William Turner im 19. Jahrhundert gemalte Schloss ist mittlerweile ein „Scheduled Monument“ (geschützte archäologische Stätte) unter Verwaltung von Historic Scotland.