Craignethan Castle Craignethan Castle is a ruined castle in South Lanarkshire , Scotland . It is located above the River Nethan , a tributary of the River Clyde , at . The castle is two miles west of the village of Crossford , and 4 . 5 miles north - west of Lanark . Built in the first half of the 16th century , Craignethan is recognised as an excellent early example of a sophisticated artillery fortification , although its defences were never fully tested . The castle is notable as the last purpose - built fortress to be constructed in Scotland . History . The barony of Draffane , in which Craignethan was located , was a property of the Black Douglases until their forfeiture in 1455 . The land was granted to the Hamilton family , and in 1530 was given by James Hamilton , 1st Earl of Arran to his illegitimate son James Hamilton of Finnart . James Hamilton of Finnart had travelled in Europe , and had become an accomplished architect and military engineer . Appointed Kings Master of Works , he was responsible for the defences at Blackness Castle , as well as the renaissance facades of Linlithgow Palace . At Craignethan , he set out to build a " showcase " to display his talents in both domestic and military architecture . Despite his earlier Royal favour , Hamilton was executed for treason in 1540 , and his properties were forfeit to the crown . The Hamilton family , in the person of the 2nd Earl of Arran , regained Craignethan Castle two years later . The second earl added a large outer courtyard to the west of the castle . Arran , who became Duc de Châtellerault following Mary , Queen of Scots ' marriage to the French Dauphin , served as regent in her infancy . However , he later opposed Mary ' s second marriage to Lord Darnley , and was forced to surrender his castles at Craignethan and Cadzow . The situation was reversed once more following Mary ' s abdication , when Arran aided her escape from Loch Leven Castle , and regained his castles . Arran ' s son , Lord Claud Hamilton , is said to have entertained Mary at Craignethan on the night before the Battle of Langside in 1568 . The battle , at which the Hamiltons fought the forces of Regent Moray , ended in defeat , and Mary was forced to flee to England . Craignethan and Cadzow were surrendered again , Moray came in person to the castle to receive the keys on 15 May 1568 . Lord Claud attempted to recover the castle by force in October , and his brother Lord John began to starve out Moray ' s soldiers in November . The Hamiltons regained the castle by March . Feuding continued between the Hamiltons and the opponents of Mary . In 1570 , Moray was shot in Linlithgow by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh . After an English army assisting in the Marian civil war went to Glasgow in May 1570 the Hamiltons withdrew to Craignethan , and the Earl of Sussex was informed of Craignethan ' s defensive shortcomings ; " Draffin , a strong house of the Duke ' s , but situate in a hole , so that it is commanded on every part , and has no ordnance . " In the same month Lord Sempill now a King ' s man was captured and imprisoned in the castle . A treaty was signed between the King and Queen ' s parties in 1573 , but by 1579 the Hamiltons were outlawed , and Lord Claud fled to France . Levies of troops were raised to capture Craignethan and Cadzow , and both surrendered to government forces in May 1579 . Claud ' s older brother the 3rd Earl of Arran , who had been confined at Craignethan since 1575 , their younger brother David , and mother were captured and taken to Linlithgow . Six soldiers of the Hamilton family who had defended the Hamilton strongholds were taken to stand trial for Moray ' s murder at Stirling . By royal authority , Craignethan was slighted by James Hamilton of Libertoun , this involved the demolition of the north - west tower and the massive west wall , the ' inner barmkin ' , which was tumbled into the ditch , rendering the castle relatively defenceless . Craignethan was regained by the Hamiltons , but was sold by Duchess Anne in 1659 . The new owner , Andrew Hay , a covenanting laird , built himself a two - storey house in the south - west corner of the outer courtyard . In 1730 Craignethan was sold to Archibald Douglas , Duke of Douglas . The property passed to his supposed collateral descendants , the Earls of Home , and the ruins were stabilised by the 12th earl in the late 19th century . The property was given into state care by the 14th Earl in 1949 , and is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument managed by Historic Scotland . Architecture . Craignethan is built on an imposing site above a bend in the River Nethan . Steep slopes protect the castle on the south , north and east sides , but the castle is actually overlooked by higher ground to the west , making it far more vulnerable than it appears . Craignethan ' s defences are therefore concentrated towards the west . The castle comprises a low central keep , within a rectangular walled courtyard . To the west is a deep ditch and beyond , a larger outer courtyard . Keep . The rectangular keep measures 21m by 16m , and was originally of two storeys plus an attic . Attic and roof are now gone , but the walls are complete up to decorative corbels which supported a parapet walk . Round bartizans top each corner , and machicolation s guard the door . Inside , the keep differs from the usual tower house layout in several ways . The entrance leads into a large stair lobby on the main hall floor , which was more commonly located on the first floor . Below this level are subterranean vaulted cellars containing four rooms , a prison , and a well . Access was from the main entrance lobby or direct from the kitchen . The keep is divided internally by a wall running west to east . South of this wall on the ground floor is the hall , measuring 6m by 12m . The hall was accessed from the entrance lobby to the west , and was lit by three large windows . A fireplace stood in the internal wall , and a minstrel ' s gallery overlooks from the west wall . The hall ceiling was a stone vault , and the room fills the whole height of the keep . North of the internal wall was the kitchen , and a private room . Above these , within the height of the keep , were two additional rooms accessed from below . Another four rooms were located in the attic . The roof was a double gable , the central valley supported by the internal wall . Inner courtyard . The inner courtyard measures 49m by 25m , with walls strengthened by rectangular towers at each corner . The entrance was via a dog - leg passage through a gate tower midway along the north wall . The west wall was designed to stand up to artillery bombardment , and was up to 5m thick . It was destroyed in the late 16th century , and only the foundations remain . It is thought that the west wall was as high as the relatively low keep , and that this arrangement would have protected the keep from bombardment from the higher ground to the west . Of the towers , the south - east was the largest , and is the only one still standing . Known as the " Kitchen Tower " , it may in fact have housed the chapel . It is of three storeys , the lowest a subterranean vaulted chamber . Gunloops in the upper parts overlook the eastern approaches to the castle . Each of the four towers had space for storage and service areas , as well as additional accommodation for guests . The defences of the original castle were completed by a ditch , 3 . 5m deep and 9m wide , at the base of the west wall . This ditch , originally crossed via a drawbridge , was filled in when the castle was slighted , and not re - excavated until the 1960s . In the base of the ditch a caponier was uncovered , a highly unusual feature in a Scottish castle . The caponier was accessed from the south - west tower , and comprised an enclosed tunnel with gunports overlooking the ditch , allowing the defenders to fire on any attackers attempting to cross or bridge the ditch . The only other known surviving caponiers in Scotland are at Blackness Castle , also designed by James Hamilton of Finnart , and a later example by Theodore Dury at Stirling Castle . Outer court . The outer court was less heavily defended than the inner , and was added in the 1540s by the 2nd Earl of Arran . The court would have had service buildings around the perimeter , and possible gardens at the centre . There are towers at the two western corners , the north - west including a dovecot . The south - west tower was incorporated into Andrew Hay ' s House , the two storey dwelling built here by Andrew Hay in 1665 . Gunloops are located along the west wall , which contains the main gate halfway along . Walter Scott . In the Autumn of 1799 Walter Scott visited Bothwell Castle as a guest of Archibald Lord Douglas , and on a morning excursion to Craignethan Castle was so enraptured by the scene that his hosts offered him lifetime use of Andrew Hay ' s dwelling . He did not immediately turn this option down , but later circumstances prevented from making this area his summer residence . Scott ' s novel " Old Mortality " , published in 1816 , was largely set in and around Tillietudlem Castle . Chapter XI describes the location : " All heads were now bent from the battlements of the turret , which commanded a distant prospect down the vale of the river . The Tower of Tillietudlem stood , or perhaps yet stands , upon the angle of a very precipitous bank , formed by the junction of a considerable brook with the Clyde . " In June 1829 he wrote to his friend James Skene , who was preparing etchings to illustrate Scott ' s books , " I did not think on Craignethan in writing about Tillietudlem , and I believe it differs in several respects from my Chateau en Espagne . It is not on the Clyde in particular , and , if I recollect , the view is limited and wooded . But that can be no objection to adopting it as that which public taste has adopted as coming nearest to the ideal of the place . " In the revised Magnum Edition of " Old Mortality " , published in 1830 , Scott added a footnote : " The Castle of Tillietudlem is imaginary ; but the ruins of Craignethan Castle , situated on the Nethan , about three miles from its junction with the Clyde , have something of the character of the description in the text " . In September 1834 Scott ' s son in law John Gibson Lockhart took the artist J . M . W . Turner to visit Craignethan . Turner made a sketch of the castle from the north , seen across the Nethan Gorge , then made several drawings in and around the ruins . Due to the association with Scott ' s novel , Craignethan castle became a popular place to visit . In 1876 Tillietudlem railway station was constructed on the Coalburn branch of the nearby Caledonian Railway line . An 1880 tour guide description of an excursion " To the Falls of Clyde , Tillietudlem Castle , & c , " says the station " is but a short walk from the castle " . A small group of houses were constructed on the road past the station , as Fence Terrace , and this subsequently became the hamlet of Tillietudlem .