Crookston Castle

Image: © Lairich Rig Taken: 9 Dec 2005

A late twelfth-century timber castle with a defensive ringwork was built here by Robert de Croc (see the end-note); the ringwork is still clearly visible, and its course can be followed around the ruins of the later stone castle. For example, in this picture, the outer and inner banks of the defensive ditch are visible behind the fence, crossing the image from left to right; see also: Image – Image – Image This first effort at a photograph of the castle did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but later visits produced better results: Image and Image Click on the end-note title for more pictures of the castle, including some interior views. The position of a causeway across the ringwork can still be discerned at the site; it is close to a lodge which lies just a short distance to the west of the castle: Image In the fifteenth century, the Stewarts of Darnley built the stone castle whose ruins now occupy the site; its north-eastern tower remains intact, and the top can be reached by means of metal ladders (although the castle was not open to the public when this picture was taken, I was kindly given permission to briefly explore the structure). For another contributor's view of the castle, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/87398 For a view of the remains of the hall of the castle, on an upper floor, see: Image Much damage was done to the castle when it was besieged by James IV in 1489; some of the towers were destroyed in the resulting bombardment. The castle was finally abandoned in the late sixteenth century. Crookston Castle is the second-oldest building in Glasgow (after the Cathedral). Archaeological excavations have suggested that there may have been a late Iron Age circular enclosure on the same hill – see "Archaeology Around Glasgow" by Susan Hothersall; note that the WoSAS entry for the castle includes the relevant part of that text, as well as some additional material: http://www.wosas.net/wosas_site.php?id=8890 A notable tree called the Crookston Yew used to stand near the castle (see page 28 of the first volume of "Annals of the Andersonian Naturalists' Society"). In 1710, it was said that "hard by the castle is to be seen that noble monument, the ew-tree, called 'The Tree of Crockstoun', of so large a truck and well spread in its branches that 'tis seen at several miles' distance from the grounds where it stands". By the end of that century, it had decayed, and its remains were removed in 1817 by Sir John Maxwell of Pollok. In the 1890s, it was noted that "two scions of the Crookston Yew exist, at Nether Pollok and at the entrance to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens".

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