The Redcap of Hermitage Castle

It’s no surprise that a castle known as the “guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain” has picked up some stories over the last 800 years. Hermitage Castle was built so close to the border between Scotland and England that just its construction almost caused a full scale war. These enormous walls were built to keep people out, but legend says that they also kept a very sinister creature in.

The imposing mass of Hermitage Castle has changed greatly since the 13th century. The castle walls were less foreboding but the man living behind them was so wicked that his story still lingers. He was a member of the Soulis family, butlers to the King of Scots and Lords of Liddesdale.

Soulis had been schooled in the dark arts and enjoyed nothing more than death and destruction. He had gained himself a helper for his nefarious deeds, the only creature that enjoyed bloodshed as much as he did. This small beast was called a Redcap, similar to a goblin but with a hat that needed to be soaked in blood to maintain its deep red colour. There was no better place to provide the Redcap with a steady supply of spilled blood than the frontier of the Scottish Borders.

In return for the carnage that the redcap required, it granted Soulis a magical ability. This lord of Hermitage Castle could not be harmed by steel or bound by rope. Soulis grew bold thinking himself invincible. His crimes grew darker, and the redcap grew happier while people from the surrounding area despaired. Eventually, the locals hatched a plan to rid themselves of Soulis forever.

Together, they rose up and stormed Hermitage Castle to seize Soulis. Rope wouldn’t bind him so they wrapped him in lead and where steel couldn’t harm him, they boiled him in a cauldron. The redcap however wasn’t so easily dealt with. Even without the cruelty of Soulis, there was plenty of blood spilled during the cross border fighting around Hermitage Castle to satisfy this little creature.

A new keeper of the fortress, William Douglas captured his rival Alexander Ramsay and left him to rot in the dungeon here. Ramsay managed to survive for 17 days on scraps of grain and drops of water before finally wasting away. Later, Mary Queen of Scots would rush to Hermitage Castle from Jedburgh to visit the wounded Earl of Bothwell. He was near death after a local skirmish and Mary herself almost died on the journey back to her court.

Throughout it all, the redcap has supposedly watched from the high walls of Hermitage Castle. It has been a long time since blood was spilled here though. The castle was rendered obsolete with the Union of the Crowns in 1603 and abandoned. If you hear a strange scrabbling noise or catch a glimpse of a flash of red inside, then be wary. If that redcap really is still around, then he must be getting pretty desperate.

Graeme is the writer and storyteller behind Scotland’s Stories, sharing the traditional folklore and legends that make Scotland so special.