Hidden Scotland
Sign in
Hermitage Castle, the great grey stone ruin with its tall arched ends standing alone on green grass under a blue sky.
Scottish Borders

Hermitage Castle

The grim medieval fortress of Liddesdale, guardhouse of the Scottish Middle March, where Mary Queen of Scots rode to see Bothwell in 1566.

Welcome

Deep in the empty hills of Liddesdale, Hermitage Castle rises from the grass, a great grey fortress.

For centuries it was the key to the Scottish Middle March, the lawless border country of the reivers, and its history is full of intrigue, murder and treason.

The present castle was begun around 1360 by an English lord, Sir Hugh de Dacre, and then rebuilt by the Douglases into the massive stronghold that stands today. In the 1500s its walls were pierced for guns. In 1566 the Earl of Bothwell lay here wounded after a fight with reivers, and Mary Queen of Scots rode 25 miles from Jedburgh to see him, only to be thrown into a bog on the way back and fall seriously ill.

The castle opens daily through the summer. Parking is limited, and the setting is wonderfully remote.

A little further outFirst BiteA cafe on the High Street in Langholm, with home cooking, breakfasts, generous lunches, cakes and a courtyard, and dogs welcome.22 min by roadSee itCafé counter with chalkboard menus, cake display and "First Bite" sign above the till
Before you go

Open daily from April to September, 10am to 4pm; closed October to March.

Adult £7.50 online.

Where
Liddesdale, near Newcastleton, TD9 0LU.
Begun
About 1360.
Mary's ride
1566.
Where it is

In Liddesdale north of Newcastleton, TD9 0LU, with limited parking.

Close byLiddesdale.
  1. The Milnholm Cross, a tall stone cross inside iron railings in a roadside field, green hills behind.Milnholm CrossA medieval cross in the valley.7 miles11 min by road
  2. Borders Textile TowerhouseBorders Textile TowerhouseHawick's knitwear museum.16 miles22 min by road
  3. Barn owl flying low over green hillside with wings fully spreadTarras Valley Nature Reserve16 miles21 min by road
  4. Borders DistilleryBorders DistilleryThe first Scotch whisky distillery in the Borders since 1837, in Hawick's old electrical works, with tours led by the distillers.16 miles23 min by road
  5. A panelled room in Mary Queen of Scots' House, Jedburgh, with a fireplace, a painting above it and portraits on the walls.Mary Queen of Scots' HouseWhere Mary lay ill in Jedburgh.26 miles38 min by road
Directions

Nothing of ours in this part of the map.

Hidden Scotland, the magazine

Scotland, in print.

Every photograph commissioned, every word written by somebody who went. Printed twice a year, made in Scotland.

Get Issue 13Read it here
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.