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Author Topic:   Cardross Castle & Leith palace
ipflo
Moderator
posted 06-17-2002 03:43 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ipflo   Click Here to Email ipflo     Edit/Delete Message
Hi

does some one know where i can find info at Cardross castle and on Leith palace, both in scotland. Cardross was/ is near Glasgow and Leith Palace was somewhat north of Edinburgh as i have understood of map with medieval scottisch royal residences.

the only info on cardross are sites like http://www.geo.ed.ac.uk/scotgaz/features/featurefirst7917.html and i hope it is possible to find more than this.

AJR
Senior Member
posted 06-17-2002 09:18 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AJR     Edit/Delete Message
Information on Cardross Castle can be found at
http://www.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/details?inumlink=42347

Gordon
unregistered
posted 06-17-2002 04:06 PM           Edit/Delete Message
There is Cardross Castle/ Cadross House, 2.5 miles south of Port of Menteith, which is detailed in Castles of Scotland.
Cardross Manor House, which I think is the site to which you refer has never been located with any accuracy. The site is somewhere on the west bank of the River Leven in Dunbarton. It's a bit of a pet site for me this, and if you've been reading COS 2nd edition again, then that's one version. Argument has raged over this site for years as to whether it should be included in any list of castles, since there is no evidence to suggest that it was....on the contrary, how vulnerable is a manor with a thatched roof as this had? There are no remains of this house where Robert the Bruce died.
Here's the bit from my book.
CARDROSS MANOR HOUSE (*)
The Lennox & East Dunbartonshire
N.T.S., OS63 NS384758
In Dumbarton, 0.5 miles west of River Leven, just north of A814, north of Brucehill, adjacent to Notre Dame School, at Castlehill.
A large mound within a small area of parkland held by the N.T.S. commemorates the death place of King Robert the Bruce.
The Parish of Cardross once extended as far as the River Leven, and the mediaeval church remains as a ruin within Levengrove Park.
In about 1326, The Bruce looked to find a site to build himself a comfortable retirement home after his years of warring with the English. He chose the Parish of Cardross and obtained it by exchanging Royal estates with local landowners, principally Sir David Graham. This gained the Grahams the estate of Old Montrose, with which the family are normally associated.
Argument has raged over the years as to whether this was a castle or not, however ancient documentation describes it as a ‘manororium’, or manor house. However the presence of a single feature built to aid defence qualifies it for inclusion in this book, and I have my own reasons for including it.
No evidence exists to suggest that the structure was fortified. Documentation reveals that it had a single stone wall bordering the King’s apartment. It had thatched roofs and some of the windows were glazed. It was a large building, with a separate chamber for the Queen, a chapel, a hall, and from 1328 a ‘new chamber’.
There was a garden and a hunting park with a specially built falcon house surrounded by hedging. The King was known to have kept galleys here to sail the western seas, including one he called his ‘great ship’.
Argument also surrounds the actual site. That given above indicates the site used by the N.T.S., and it is only fitting that they should commemorate the death place of our greatest King in some way. However evidence suggests that the actual site was nearer the Leven, and various sites are suggested. These include the vicinity of Mains of Cardross Farm (mains meant demesne in old terminology indicating a home farm). Some other suggestions are more fanciful, such as at Tullichewan.
Only archaeological evidence could indicate the true site, and similarly establish the nature of the mound at Castlehill. For myself I prefer to think that Castlehill was a motte, possibly the Graham’s seat in the estate.
There are records showing that the King’s great ship was pulled up for repairs into a burn which ran beside the house. This illustrates that the actual site must have been very close to the Leven. Since most of that bank was industrialised, and over the years the course of the river altered, then it is very unlikely that any trace will ever be found.
Bruce died here in 1329, his heart cut out as he requested
and taken on crusade. It was carried in a silver casket by Sir James Douglas. Douglas and many of his entourage died in battle against the Moors in Grenada, though Bruce’s heart was returned and interred in Melrose Abbey. His body was buried at the Abbey of Dunfermline. The manor does not appear to have been used after his death. The estate was absorbed within the castle lands of Dumbarton, remaining Royal property and providing revenues used to maintain the castle.
..........Oh and I don't think the folks in Dunbarton would like to think of themselves as in or even near Glasgow!


Leith Palace is a new one on me. In Leith near Edinburgh there was a pentagonal fort built by Cromwell during his occupation of Scotland in the Civil War of the 17thc, There is Leith Hall, a sprawling mansion which incorporates a 17thc tower and stands in Aberdeenshire, and that's it. No Royal palace. Any more clues? Nearest Palace is Holyrood.

[This message has been edited by Gordon (edited 06-17-2002).]

AJR
Senior Member
posted 06-18-2002 04:04 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for AJR     Edit/Delete Message
There's a Leith Hall in Grampian (and that's north of Edinburgh - a long way north). That may be the place you're after.

ipflo
Moderator
posted 06-18-2002 04:05 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for ipflo   Click Here to Email ipflo     Edit/Delete Message
Hi

Thx for the information

The beginning of this topic were Saturday when I bought ‘Scottish royal palaces The architecture of the royal residences during the late medieval and early renaissance periods’ of John G Dunbar published by Tuckwell Press and Historic Scotland (1999).

On page 1 the author mentioned both the houses: ‘Others again, like Robert I’s splendid manor of Cardross or James I’s little known palace in Leith, were allowed to fall into decay or, like the castles of Dundonald and Darnaway, were in the course of time granted by the king to supporters or dependants (Douglas-Irvine 1911, 1-47).’ In the remainder of the book the author doesn’t consider any more the lesser residences, because of space.

So in this way mine interest aroused. Of course I searched it immediately in mine Cos second edition, but I found the topic on Cardross Castle unsatisfactory and because of that I started this topic.

All times are PT (US)

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