Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/544

 THIRD PERIOD 524 HERMITAGE CASTLE its ditches, etc., and mentions that some years ago a portion of the walls was still standing. A castle was first built on the present site by Nicholas de Soulis, who lived in the reigns of Alexander n. and Alexander in., or, accord- ing to Mr. Fraser, in his Scotts of Buccleuch, by Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith. The erection of the castle was one of the alleged causes of the assembling of an army by Henry in., in 1243, for the invasion of Scotland. He maintained that this fortress was too near the Border (which at that time was the Liddel Water), and would be a constant menace to England. The castle was no doubt originally intended for a Royal fortress, but was afterwards possessed by the lord of the district. On a map of about the year 1300 Hermitage appears as one of the few great fortresses on the frontier. FIG. 448. Hennitage Castle. Plan of Site. William de Douglas, Knight of Liddesdale, got a grant of the castle from David n. Thereafter it passed into the hands of the Earls of Angus in 1398, and it is probable that the castle was enlarged by them about the beginning of the fifteenth century. In 1470, David Scott of Buccleuch was appointed by Angus governor of the castle, and subsequent Scotts held the same office. In 1492, Archibald, Earl of Angus, exchanged Hermitage Castle and Liddesdale for Bothwell Castle on the Clyde.