Crawford Castle

This is about the Scottish fortified place; for other senses, see Crawford Castle (disambiguation).

Crawford Castle, substantially in ruins, is located on the north bank of the River Clyde opposite Crawford village in the Parish of Crawford, Council of South Lanarkshire, Scotland.

Between the Christmas period of 1296 and the spring of 1297, William Wallace rode with John Graham and forty men to assault the Lindsay Clan's stronghold at Crawford Castle. Wallace stormed and took it from an English garrison.

In 1398, Robert II gave the castle and the title of Earl of Crawford to David Lindsay,^[1] who had won great praise in 1390 for bravery in single (mock) combat with the Englishman Baron Welles.^[2]

What remains of Crawford Castle is on the site of the original Lindsay Tower (sometimes known as Tower Lindsay). The castle is specified in a list of monuments published by the Minister of Public Building and Works under the Ancient Monuments Consolidation and Amendment Act, 1913. The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland lists the site as a castle or motte and holds records for the monument in its databases under map sheet NS92SE, site number 3.

National Monuments Record of Scotland Data

The Castle of Crawford is noticed in old records as early as 1175 to 1178. It was in use as a farmhouse until nearly the end of the 18th century, but is now entirely ruinous. It was formerly surrounded by water.^[3]
The architectural remains of Crawford Castle date from the early 17th century but it was probably rebuilt from an earlier 16th century building. The castle is mentioned variously in the 12th, 15th and 16th centuries.^[4]
The remains of Crawford Castle are in very ruinous condition. They are situate on a large artificial mound about 5.0m high, probably the remains of a 12th century motte. Fragments of the courtyard wall, 1.3m high, are situated on the north side of the mound. The surrounding moat is 7.1m wide, but is entirely destroyed on the east. A causeway crosses it opposite the entrance on the north. Visited by OS (WDJ) 31 July 1959.^[5]
Crawford Castle: name verified. The surviving parts of the west, south, and east walls stand up to three storyes high but they are in poor and decayed state. The silted motte ditch is up to 1.3m deep on the north and south sides. Four stone tablets bearing coats of arms, one with the date 1648, are built into the west and south walls of the Castle Crawford House. Surveyed at 1:2500 scale. Visited by OS (JRL) 16 August 1978.^[6]

G.V. Irving & A. Murray (1864), The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire Described and Delineated, 3v, Glasgow, 81-82,106-106
D. MacGibbon and T. Ross (1887-1892), The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries, 5v, Edinburgh, Vol. 4, 225
NSA (1845), The New Statistical Account of Scotland by the Ministers of the Respective Parishes under the Superintendant of a Committee of the Society for the Benefit of the Sons and Daughters of the Clergy, 15v, Edinburgh, Vol. 6 (Lanark), 331
C. Tabraham (1978), Norman Settlement in Upper Clydesdale: Recent Archeological Fieldwork, Trans Dumfriesshire Galloway Natural History Antiquities Society, 3rd, 53, 1977-1978, 124-125

↑ According to the translator of Blaeu Atlas of Scotland, 1654, the Atlas's reference to "James" Lindsay is a mistake for David Lindsay. See also Earl of Crawford, which lists David Lindsay (c. 1360-1407) as the 1st of those Earls.
↑ See p.61 of the Blaeu Atlas.
↑ National Monuments Record of Scotland, citing G.V. Irving & A. Murray 1864; New Statistical Account (NSA) 1845.
↑ National Monuments Record of Scotland, citing D. MacGibbon & T. Ross 1899.
↑ National Monuments Record of Scotland.
↑ National Monuments Record of Scotland.