Broughty Castle

If you're going through Scotland, you'll find multiple castles. Most of them are somewhere high on a cliff/hill overlooking the area.. but this one.. this one is on the banks of the River Tay, defending Dundee from attacks over the water.

Broughty Castle, located in Broughty Ferry, Dundee, has a history, quite a colourful history.
Let's begin.

In 1454, George Douglas, 4th Earl of Angus gained permission to build a castle on a piece of land near the River Tay, unfortunately he died in 1463, leaving the castle in the hands of his 14 year old son Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus.

Archibald was quite the nobleman and in 1481 he fought against James III and Robert Cochrane at Lauder (if you don't know, James III was King of Scots from 1460 till 1488 and he became quite unpopular due to his wanting marriage alliances with England which resulted into wars). 

In 1483 he and the Duke of Albany chose sides with Edward IV of England and eventually in Westminster the convention was signed that the English king was overlord of Scotland (All this to get rid of James III). Upon return to Scotland, both Archibald as the Duke of Albany received pardon for their treason against the crown. 


Archibald and James III were at peace for a wee while, until something made Archibald rebel against the King and so we end up at the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488, in which James III stood across of Archibald and Scottish nobility and James III lost his life during that battle.

Mr. Archibald thought he made it by becoming one of the guardians over the young James IV, but he soon lost his favour. He and James split on good terms, but wee Archi made the mistake to run over to the English king Henry VII and make a treaty with England. He agreed on giving away some of his castles in order to receive some English estates... guess how that ended.

When he had to give up Broughty Castle is not quite known but it had to be between 1488 and 1490 as in 1490, Broughty Castle was granted to Andrew, 2nd Lord Grey.

However Archibald Douglas died in 1513 after returning into favour by the Scottish King and even gaining a position in the court. (just in case you wanted to know)

Moving back to the main subject of this blogpost.

The main tower is build by this Lord Grey and until the 16t Century there was not much going on with Broughty Castle. It wasn't until the Rough Wooing (Anglo-Scottish War) that Broughty Castle saw some action, but this time not the kind of action you wanted. In September 1547, the Duke of Somerset marched successfully through Scotland, capturing cities, castles and gaining ground. Broughty Castle surrendered after the Battle of Pinkie (Sept. 1547), its owner, Patrick Grey, 4th Lord Grey, let the castle be purchased by the English. Henry Durham became the Scottish keeper of the castle and received a pension from the English and whatever he could make from the fishing.

That the castle was located in a great advantage point, was clear for the English and as soon as they became owner of it, they build a ditch across the landward side of the castle and started to refortified the castle. Ships arrived at the castle to protect it while the work was being done. But this did not mean that the Scottish would be defeated that easily and 'just' give up. 

Look, I can write the entire campaign or just go a bit fast forward and do not give you guys an essay of 2000 words to read. Sounds like a plan right?

So, in November 1547, the Earl of Argyll tried to capture the castle, he failed and in January 1548 he tried again, now with 150 men led by Duncan Dundas. This was also without success. The English remained owner of the castle until 1550 when the French and Scottish armies were able to recapture Broughty Castle. 

There was finally some peace at Broughty Castle, until 1651 when during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (Yes, the Civil War) the castle was being attacked and captured by General Monck and his Parliamentarian army. After 1660 the castle was sold by the Grey family and it became more and more a ruin.

Let's skip a century.

The Edinburgh and Northern Railway bought the castle in 1846 to have a place for their harbour for the railway ferry. But in 1855 the site was owned by the War Office to defend the harbour from the Russians. 5 years later the location was being rebuild and fortified due to a French invasion threat. There was a place for 9 guns built. And we're not done yet. In 1886 and 1887 a range was built to house submarines, who were able to lay mines in the Tay if there was a sight of enemy ships. Then in 1889 - 1891 a magazine was built in the western wall. 

In the First World War there were two 4.7-inch Quick Fire guns mounted on the castle. Until 1932 the castle remained in military use, but then the Second World War arrived and between 1939 and 1949 the castle was once back in military service. In the Second World War, the last defence was built on the castle; a defence post on top.

And last but not least, in 1969 the Dundee City Council opened the castle as a museum. And you can still visit today.

That's it, that's the story of Broughty Castle in short.
I have not been inside due to the COVID-19 regulations, but as soon as it will open again, I will definitely visit and share.

sources:
wikipedia
Calendar of State Papers Scotland, Vol 1.

note: if you're reading into history, please do not trust sites as Wikipedia a 100%, always double check the references and facts. I have used Wikipedia and double checked it with the Centre for History database that's available on my University. Of course I may have some mistakes in here, I'm not a graduated historian with knowledge of a million years (I respect my lecturers so much!) and I happily be made aware of those.