Loch Doon Castle: The Fortress That Was Moved
Southern Scotland, Scotland
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Eleven Sides
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225
XP
1 day
Loch Doon Castle: The Fortress That Was Moved
225 XP
Loch Doon Castle was built in the late 13th century on an island in the loch, inside an eleven-sided curtain wall shaped to the rock it stood on. In the 1930s the loch was raised for a hydro-electric scheme, so the castle was dismantled and rebuilt on the shore, where it stands today as a scheduled monument. It had a hard history before that: held by the English in the Wars of Independence until Robert I’s forces recovered it, besieged in 1335, and attacked again in 1446 by the eighth Earl of Douglas.
Required Activities
1
of 4
Walk the full circuit of the curtain wall and count its sides — eleven of them, a footprint cut to fit an island that is no longer there
2
of 4
Look out across the water and work out what happened here: the loch was raised in the 1930s for a hydro-electric scheme, the island went under, and the walls were taken down and rebuilt on this shore
3
of 4
Put the sieges to the stone you are standing in. The castle was held by the English in the Wars of Independence until the forces of Robert I took it back, besieged again in 1335, and attacked in 1446 by William Douglas, eighth Earl of Douglas
4
of 4
Walk down to the waterline below the walls and look along the length of Loch Doon, then back up at the castle — the two views the island site would have had, now split between the shore and the water
Walk the full circuit of the curtain wall and count its sides — eleven of them, a footprint cut to fit an island that is no longer there
Look out across the water and work out what happened here: the loch was raised in the 1930s for a hydro-electric scheme, the island went under, and the walls were taken down and rebuilt on this shore
Put the sieges to the stone you are standing in. The castle was held by the English in the Wars of Independence until the forces of Robert I took it back, besieged again in 1335, and attacked in 1446 by William Douglas, eighth Earl of Douglas
Walk down to the waterline below the walls and look along the length of Loch Doon, then back up at the castle — the two views the island site would have had, now split between the shore and the water
Before you go
The castle sits on the shore road down the west side of Loch Doon, which is single track in places with lambs on it in spring. It is open ground rather than a staffed site, so there is nothing there but the walls — bring what you need.
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
225 XP
Potential total
225 XP
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