Crichton Castle (19)
A bread oven in the basement of the north-east tower, equipped so that the baker could multitask - shoot people while the dough was rising!
The fall of the Crichtons was as abrupt as their rise had been. William, 3rd lord Crichton joined Alexander Duke of Albany in his rebellion against his brother, James the Third, and garrisoned Crichton Castle on the duke's behalf. The rebellion failed, and he was attainted for treason by parliament, 24th February 1483-4. Albany fled to France, where he was killed in 1485 in a duel with the Duke of Orléans in Paris, by a splinter from the dooks' lance.
On his forfeiture, Crichton was granted to Sir John Ramsay of Balmain, but following his forfeiture, it was granted by King James IV to Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Lord Hales and subsequently 1st Earl of Bothwell. Life was probably fairly quiet at Crichton during the first half of the 16th century. Adam Hepburn, 2nd Earl of Bothwell followed his king and benefactor to Flodden in 1513 and never came back again, following which his widow lived here. Her son Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, was imprisoned in 1529 for two years for harbouring robbers. Once released he decided to exact revenge by beginning a treasonable correspondence with England. He then spent much of the next few years in England and after James V died, Hepburn signed a pact with Henry VIII promising to serve him and aid the commitment of the then infant Mary, Queen of Scots, into Henry's custody. He died in 1556.
Crichton Castle (19)
A bread oven in the basement of the north-east tower, equipped so that the baker could multitask - shoot people while the dough was rising!
The fall of the Crichtons was as abrupt as their rise had been. William, 3rd lord Crichton joined Alexander Duke of Albany in his rebellion against his brother, James the Third, and garrisoned Crichton Castle on the duke's behalf. The rebellion failed, and he was attainted for treason by parliament, 24th February 1483-4. Albany fled to France, where he was killed in 1485 in a duel with the Duke of Orléans in Paris, by a splinter from the dooks' lance.
On his forfeiture, Crichton was granted to Sir John Ramsay of Balmain, but following his forfeiture, it was granted by King James IV to Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Lord Hales and subsequently 1st Earl of Bothwell. Life was probably fairly quiet at Crichton during the first half of the 16th century. Adam Hepburn, 2nd Earl of Bothwell followed his king and benefactor to Flodden in 1513 and never came back again, following which his widow lived here. Her son Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Earl of Bothwell, was imprisoned in 1529 for two years for harbouring robbers. Once released he decided to exact revenge by beginning a treasonable correspondence with England. He then spent much of the next few years in England and after James V died, Hepburn signed a pact with Henry VIII promising to serve him and aid the commitment of the then infant Mary, Queen of Scots, into Henry's custody. He died in 1556.