Comlongon Castle Comlongon Castle is a tower house dating from the 15th century . It is located 1 km west of the village of Clarencefield , 10 km south - east of Dumfries , in south west Scotland . The original tower was extended by the addition of a 19th century baronial style mansion . The castle and mansion are now a hotel . History . Thomas Randolph , 1st Earl of Moray granted the lands of Comlongon , in the early 14th century , to his nephew William de Moravia , ancestor of the Murrays of Cockpool . His descendant Cuthbert of Cockpool ( d . 1493 ) built Comlongon Castle in the later part of the 15th century , to replace the Murrays ' earlier castle of Cockpool , of which only earthworks remain at Cockpool Farm , to the south west of Comlongon . His son John Murray ( d . c . 1527 ) was created Baron Cockpool in 1508 . Descendants of the Murrays were later created Viscounts Stormont in 1621 , and Earls of Mansfield in 1776 , and Comlongon was part of the Earl ' s estate until 1984 . The castle is reportedly haunted by the ghost of Lady Marion Carruthers who took her own life by leaping from the lookout tower . The castle . The red sandstone tower is approximately 15m by 13m , and 18m high to the corbelled parapet . It was built on a stone ' plinth ' , in order to support the structure on what was a marshy site . The entrance to the tower still retains the original yett , a portcullis - like metal grid in front of the door . This leads into a vaulted cellar with a well , and two spiral stairs leading up . The main stair at the north - east corner leads up to a caphouse at parapet level , while the second serves the high - table end of the first floor hall . The hall is dominated by a large fireplace , with the Royal Arms of Scotland carved above it . Heraldic emblems are carved onto several projecting corbels , and an elaborately decorated recess or aumbry , with a carved cinquefoil surround , attests to the relative wealth of the Murrays . A separate fireplace at the opposite end of the hall would have served the narrow kitchen , and would have been separated from the hall by a timber screen where a wall now stands . The most remarkable feature of Comlongon is the walls , over 4m thick in places , and riddled with numerous interconnecting chambers to an extent not seen in any contemporary Scottish castle . The narrow kitchen is one such mural chamber . Also within the walls off the hall is a guardroom , with a cell beyond , and a trapdoor which gives access to a grim unlit dungeon below . Two further storeys lie above the hall , with parapet walks at roof level . The western parapet was roofed over before 1624 , when a surviving inventory was taken , creating a gallery with crow - stepped gables . A similar structure was built over the south - east corner , giving the south facade a symmetrical appearance . The upper storeys were also subdivided before this time . A walled courtyard and ditch , possibly a moat , once surrounded the tower , although this was removed in the early 18th century , when a manor house was added to the east side of the tower . Between 1890 and 1902 this manor was replaced by the present Scottish baronial mansion , by architects James Barbour & JM Bowie of Dumfries . The castle was bought by the present owners , from the Earl of Mansfield ' s estate , in 1984 , and renovated to its current condition . It has been operated as a hotel since then .