#historyonyourdoorstep | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

coralmccallum · 5 years

Text

How often do you drive or walk past the history on your own doorstep without so much as a second glance?

I’ll confess …. maybe not quite daily but it’s a regular occurrence and it transpires I’m not the only one in the house who does so.

Less than 10 miles from our house there’s a 15th Century castle. A national tourist attraction. Do you know how many times I’ve visited it? Until today, once! (Hangs her head in shame.)

So, on a dreich Sunday afternoon, Girl Child, the Big Green Gummi Bear and I decided the time had come to visit the castle. (About 15 years ago I had taken both Boy Child and Girl Child there but neither of them remembers it!)

Newark Castle sits on the banks of the River Clyde near Port Glasgow.

It was built circa 1480 by George Maxwell and is one of the finest late-medieval buildings in Scotland. Both the Gatehouse and Towerhouse date back to that era as does the Doocot in the grounds. The rest of the castle was remodelled in 1590 by Patrick Maxwell, transforming the cramped medieval castle into an elegant Renaissance mansion. Both the north wing and east wing were remodelled and the grounds transformed.

Today, the castle stands pretty much as it did back then.

Newark Castle is a veritable labyrinth spread over three levels. It also boasts one of only three surviving anti-clockwise staircases to be found in Scotland’s castles. You enter via the 15th century Gatehouse which leads through to the cellars, kitchen, bakehouse and the Towerhouse cellar. There are numerous staircases giving access to the upper floors. From the Towerhouse cellar you can climb up to the roof lookout point. It’s quite a twisty climb! From the wine cellar, there is a staircase leading straight up to the great hall. A further staircase leads from the kitchen to the great hall.

The upper level has a long gallery running the length of the north wing and this is where the laird’s private chambers and, including the rooms in the east wing, the family bed chambers and guest rooms would have been. One bedroom features original wood panelling and a rare example of a wall bed.

The windows in the east wing afford a view over the grounds and the Doocot (dovecot) whish has survived from the 1480’s. Doocots were popular in the 15th century as the pigeons (doos/doves) provided a source of fresh meat during the long winter months.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

The building is well worth a visit.

Equally intriguing is the history of the owners through the ages.

The land that the castle stands on belonged originally to the Denniston family but became part of the Maxwell estate in 1402 when Elizabeth Denniston married Sir Robert Maxwell of Calderwood.

At that time, Newark was part of the barony of Finlaystone, an estate some five miles to the east. ( http://www.finlaystone.co.uk/ ) If the Denniston family had a castle it is highly likely that it formed part of the Finlaystone estate.

In 1478 George Maxwell inherited the barony of Finlaystone and within a few years was being styled as “George Maxwell of Newark and Finlaystone”. This all ties in nicely with the construction dates for the original castle buildings. It is also documented that in 1495 James IV visited Newark Castle whilst on a mission to quash disturbances in the Western Isles. (It’s likely that the laird would have had to surrender his sumptuous bed chamber in the Towerhouse to the king during his stay.)

Over time the Maxwell family became a powerful and influential family in the area. Historically, the most notable member of the family was Sir Patrick Maxwell, who was the laird of Newark Castle circa 1580. Initially, he was held up as a pillar of society, well-educated and a justice of the peace as well as being the architect behind the extensive remodelling of Newark Castle in 1590. He enjoyed the patronage of James VI. However, there were two sides to Sir Patrick. He was a wife beater, a child abuser and a murderer. He reportedly murdered two members of the Montgomerie family from Skelmorlie some twelve miles to the west of the castle. Sir Patrick also quarrelled with his son, Patrick, and was implicated in his untimely death. Undoubtedly his wife, Lady Margaret Crawford, suffered worst at his hand. She was married to him for 44 years and bore him 16 children! After years of abuse and ill-treatment she finally escaped from his clutches in 1632 and fled across the River Clyde to Dumbarton. Sir Patrick never answered to the charges raised against him as by that time he was too ill to travel to Edinburgh to face trial and it’s assumed he died shortly thereafter.

New-port Glasgow (modern day Port Glasgow) became a bustling trading post during the 1600’s. The castle’s laird, George Maxwell soon became involved in this merchant trade.

When the last Maxwell laird died in 1694, Newark Castle and its grounds were sold to another influential businessman, William Cochrane of Kilmarnock.

The 1700’s saw trade in the area continue to flourish but sadly the castle began to decline and it changed hands several times. The Cochrane’s sold it to the Hamilton family who in turn sold it in the 1820’s to a London banker, Robert Farquar. In 1825, Robert Farquar’s daughter married Sir Michael Shaw-Stewart, another well known local family from Ardgowan estate in Inverkip some eight miles west ( http://www.ardgowan.co.uk/ ) Newark Castle remained under the care of the Shaw-Stewart family until 1909 when it was entrusted to the State. Today it is curated by Historic Scotland.

During the 18th and 19th centuries the castle was leased to various tenants. The grounds too were leased out to local market gardeners. One tenant was John Orr, a ropemaker with a rather unusual side-line business. He traded in wild animals (panthers, leopards, bears etc) purchased from passing ships that arrived into the port. It is presumed that until he found a buyer for the creatures that they were kept in the castle’s cellars, giving rise to rumours that the castle was haunted as the locals reported strange howling during the night.

Newark Castle is a historical gem that in more recent times has been hidden, literally, by the Clyde’s shipbuilding industry. For much of the 20th Century it was surrounded to the west, east and south by Ferguson’s and Lamont’s Shipbuilders. As the shipbuilding industry fell into decline in the 1980’s Lamont’s closed its doors and was subsequently demolished, revealing the castle’s southern and eastern exposures to the world once more.

Today, but for how much longer, Ferguson’s still remains to the west of Newark Castle, a modern-day industrial neighbour to this discrete medieval gem.

If you want to discover more about Newark Castle check out the site below:

https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/newark-castle/

(some images sourced via Google – credits to the owners)

What Local History Are You Missing Out On?……… A Medieval Castle Perhaps? How often do you drive or walk past the history on your own doorstep without so much as a second glance?

#blogging #castle #historicscotland #history #historyonyourdoorstep #medievalcastle #MondayBlogs #NewarkCastle #PortGlasgow

1 note · View note

ofgraveconcern · 3 years

Photo

28th December 1734, death of Scottish folk hero and outlaw Robert Roy MacGregor more commonly known as Rob Roy. Rob Roy joined the Jacobite rising of 1689, 1715 and 1719. All the Jacobite uprisings as well as the last in 1745, attempted politically and militarily to restore a Catholic monarch to the British throne. Upon the failure of the risings, Roy tried to become a respectacle Cattleman, but was branded an outlaw after defaulting on a loan. His lands were then seized by the 1st Duke of Montrose, whereupon Roy waged a blood feud against the Duke until 1722, when he was finally imprisoned. The following year the exploits of his life were fictionalised as' The Highland Rogue’, which made him a legend earning him a pardon. His folk legend was still well established in the next century with William Wordsworth poem 1803 "Rob Roy's Grave" The Wordsworth’s 1803 tour of Scotland was documented in Recollections of a Tour Made in Scotland by his sister Dorothy (whose birthday was on the 25th). In 1817, Sir Walter Scott published ‘Rob Roy’, which is the most well known account of his life. The book influenced Hector Berlioz to compose a Rob Roy overture in 1831. #robroy #scottishhistory #scottishhistoricalromance #scottishhighlands #jacobite #jacobites #jacobiterebellion #folkhero #folkheroes #williamwordsworth #williamwordsworthquote #robroysgrave #scotlandhighlands #historicalillustration #historic #historydaily #historyonyourdoorstep #otd #onthisdayinhistory #hectorberlioz #walterscott #historyofscotland #scotlandthebrave #18thcenturyhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CJWOQ_ZHG_j/?igshid=5cvyb631dqqs

0 notes

my-jersey-life · 4 years

Photo

View of Martello Tower, Grouville We are on annual leave this week - hooray! Neither myself or the bf like to have staycations, we are both of the opinion that annual leave means getting off the island and to some interesting destination. Last year we absolutely smashed it and I added eight new countries to my list of places I’ve travelled. This year..... well, what a different story! So to make the best use of our annual leave we have decided to make the most of the wonderful island that we live on and have booked all sorts of activities. It all kicked off on Friday night with a moonlight walk to Seymour Tower with @jersey.walk.adventures. We both had a difficult week so we bought fish and chips and ate them in the car overlooking La Rocque harbour before heading along to Seymour slip to meet up for the walk. We were a bit early and managed to catch this amazing sunset. The walk started at 21:45 and finished just after midnight, we got our night vision working, climbed a bank of shells, walked across the sea floor and all the way to the tower. It was kind of weird being so far away from the island (about 1.5 miles) and still not seeing or hearing the sea. We leaned all parts of interesting facts from our guides Derek and Trudie and although we didn’t have any moonlight, we did have the most amazing display of bioluminescence that sparkled at our feet. It’s almost impossible to describe but it’s amazing and it’s RIGHT HERE in the island. Saturday was a night out in town for both of us and Sunday our Écréhous trip. Today has been our ‘quiet’ day although we haven’t stopped running around all day and tomorrow - Les Minquiers! . . . . . #jersey #jerseyci #jerseychannelislands #instajerseyci #instajersey #lovewhereyoulive #seymourtower #seymourtowerjersey #moonlightwalk #jerseywalkadventures #martellotower #historyonyourdoorstep #walkingontheseabed #bioluminescence #starsattyourfeet #amazingnature #rediscoverhome #staycation #covidholiday #beach #grouville #royalbayofgrouville #islanddefence #icanseefrancefromhere #sunset #goldenhour (at Seymour Slip) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDb3ItcjLRV/?igshid=13ckg5ky4usvt

0 notes