Like Ireland in our previous episode, Scotland
is world famous for its castles.
However, they do not all receive the same
amount of attention from visitors.
Yearly, tourists flock to Edinburgh Castle
situated on this rock outcrop above the city,
or popular Urquhart, or Eilean Donan Castles.
What many do not know, is that some of the
best and most unique that you can see, receive
little or no attention at all.
Hidden away on a large empty track of land
above the River Tyne in the ancient region
of Lothian, only a short distance from Edinburgh
is one of these lesser known gems.
Today we take you inside this ruinous castle
that is closely tied to a witchcraft trial
and the real life events that inspired Game
of Throne’s infamous Red Wedding.
This is A Ruined Castle's Story of the Real
Red Wedding
Its story begins in the 600s as the Anglo-Saxon
kingdom of Northumbria pushed further north
into Scotland.
In 685 the Pictish tribes there, under King
Bridei III defeated them in an ambush, killing
their king, Ecgfrith at the Battle of Dun
Nechtain.
Due to this victory, by the 900s they were
able to capture the region then known as Lothian,
from the Angle invaders, and form what would
one day become the heartland and capital region
of modern Scotland today.
During the early 1100s, a clan called the
Crichtons, possibly Normans, under Thurstan
de Crechtune settled in the area and owed
fealty to Scottish King David I.
Over time they would expand their lands and
under Sir John de Crichton they were granted
a barony by King Robert III.
John would then build the first castle here
in the late 1300s, as a simple tower house
with a barmkin, or walled courtyard.
John died at the castle in 1406 and his son
William took the reins of power.
He quickly raised in status as Sheriff of
Edinburgh, and governor of Edinburgh Castle.
At the time Archibald Douglas the 5th Earl
of Douglas was the Regent for the child King
James II, but he died in 1439 of a fever.
Using the power vacuum William quickly proclaimed
himself Lord Chancellor of Scotland ruling
alongside Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar
and James Douglas Earl of Avondale as regents.
At the time young James was kept at the castle
by William, which his mother Joan Beaufort
did not like.
She soon made a pilgrimage but instead hid
the young king in a box and took him to Stirling
Castle which was under the control of Sir
Alexander.
Alexander then attacked Edinburgh and made
William agree to the new power arrangement.
However, William then stole back the young
king and the two agreed to share power instead.
William had been feuding with the Black Douglas
line for some time and used the opportunity
to turn the tables on the family.
William hatched this plan with the help of
the other ruling regents, including the victim’s
great uncle, James Douglas.
William then sent invites to the two teenage
sons of Archibald Douglas,the 16 year old
William, the newly appointed 6th Earl of Douglas
and his 10 year old brother David.
A feast was to be held at Edinburgh Castle
following the Parliament of 1440.
An event that would become known as the Black
Dinner.
The two boys were seated as guests of honor
and at the end of the meal, and got along
well with the boy king James, until a platter
with a black bull’s head was brought in,
symbolizing their doom.
Silence fell and they were then dragged from
the room and executed on Castle Hill after
a short sham trial despite the pleas of the
king.
It is said by some that the youngest was killed
first at request of the child Earl, not wanting
him to witness the death of his older brother.
Four days later their counsellor Sir Malcolm
Fleming was also executed.
Seemingly not knowing of James Douglas’
involvement the young king then proclaimed
William a rebel and confiscated his estates.
James Douglas attacked Edinburgh Castle and
William surrendered under favorable terms,
later being made Lord Crichton and the ambassador
to France.
Sir Walter Scott was to later write of the
bloody feast:
"Edinburgh Castle, toune and towre,
God grant thou sink for sin!
And that e'en for the black dinner
Earl Douglas gat therein."
James Douglas the Earl of Avondale, the great
uncle of the executed boys, would then become
the 7th Earl Douglas, known as “the Gross”
for his hugely fat frame.
He would rule only 3 years until 1443, when
on his death his son William Douglas would
become the 8th Earl, soon attempting to assassinate
William Crichton.
In 1451 the 8th Earl of Douglas was given
safe passage and was invited by the then adult
King James II to meet him at Stirling Castle.
The Earl who was in Rome at the time had been
in conflict with other lords, and was in a
secret league with the Earl of Crawford, and
others against him.
After the dinner with Crichton and the king,
they sat down with the Earl in a side room,
and demanded he break off the alliances.
William Douglas refused and in a strange twist
of fate, the same young king who had witnessed
the murderous feast a decade before, stabbed
him in the neck with a dagger.
The Earl was then hit in the head with a pole
axe by another present, striking his brains
out and his body, riddled with 26 wounds,
was tossed out of a window into the gardens
below.
The window today is still known as Douglas
window.
Before William Crichton’s death in 1454
he was to use his rising power and wealth
to expand the family castle, adding one or
more new sections to the tower, creating an
L shaped structure.
He also built a nearby Collegiate Church that
is now restored and stands in view of the
castle.
Priests were hired there to pray for his salvation.
His son James Crichton became 2nd lord but
died in 1469.
His own son was another William, who became
3rd Lord, and had an affair and illegitimate
daughter with Princess Margaret, the sister
of King James III.
William soon lost his lands and title by siding
with James’ brother, Alexander Stewart the
Duke of Albany, who had fled to France after
being imprisoned for breaking the truce with
England.
Albany made a deal with King Edward IV of
England to overthrow King James III, and he
marched with an english army into Scotland
and captured him.
However, Edward IV soon died and Albany and
his allies Lord Crichton, and the Earls of
Buchan and Angus were forced to make a temporary
peace with James.
As part of the agreement Lord Crichton was
exiled for three years.
In 1484 as he hid in the far north, and Albany
fled to England, King James seized Crichton
Castle and the other lands William held under
charges of treason and for further fortifying
the castle against him as seen on this diagram.
He died still in exile in 1493.
During this time around 1488 the castle and
lands switched hands, being given by King
James IV to Sir Patrick Hepburn, 2nd Lord
of Hailes who was given the new title of Earl
Bothwell by combining the lands of the Barony
of Crichton with the also confiscated barony
of Bothwell.
Patrick had been one of the rebel Confederate
lords that attacked King James III, fought
at Sauchieburn and was suspected of his murder.
Patrick had for some time been Lord High Admiral
of Scotland and Ambassador to France.
In 1492 he was further given Hermitage Castle,
and in 1495 control of Dumbarton Castle.
His son Adam became 2nd Earl Bothwell, but
only lived to 21, just 5 years longer than
his father dying alongside his son Patrick
at the Battle of Flodden.
Adam’s one year old son Patrick inherited.
The third Earl was known as “The Fair Earl”,
being an attractive man.
Despite this he was locked up in 1529 for
protecting outlaws, and then engaged in treason
with England, fleeing there eventually and
secretly swearing loyalty to English King
Henry VIII’s plot to capture the infant
Mary queen of Scots while still being paid
by the Scottish crown and living in Scotland.
In 1548 he fled back to England and then was
pardoned and returned to Scotland, dying in
1556.
James Hepburn, the 4th Earl then ruled the
castle.
In 1560 his acts caused it to be besieged
and captured by Regent Arran.
This was sparked by James’ seizure of 4,000
pounds sent by English Queen Elizabeth I that
was meant for the Lords of the Congregation,
a group of rebels who opposed the future Mary
Queen of Scots marriage to the future King
Francis II of France.
In 1561 the castle was also to host the wedding
of the 4th Earl’s sister to Lord John Stewart,
with Mary Queen of Scots also attending.
Six years later James was to fatefully enter
history as he kidnapped Queen Mary to Dunbar
Castle.
His wife Jean Gordon then divorced him for
cheating on her with a maid, and Bothwell
shortly after married the Queen at Holyrood.
For many this confirmed claims that James
had been involved closely in the murder of
Mary’s last husband, Lord Darnley.
For some time Mary had been estranged from
him due to his commandeering behavior, which
culminated in a jealous Darnley’s supporters
holding Mary at gunpoint as they stabbed her
secretary, David Rizzio, 57 times and threw
him down a stairwell.
At the time Bothwell had also been a target,
and this caused Mary to enter into a pact
with him.
Mary pardoned the killers, and had a son who
would become King James VI.
Afterwards Lord Darnley became sick with syphilis
and while recovering in 1567 an explosion
blew up his house, Kirk O’Fields and he
was found dead in the garden without visible
wounds.
In 1567 Bothwell was tried, but after 4,000
of his men surrounded the courthouse, he was
found innocent in 7 hours.
Shortly after Mary was kidnapped by Bothwell
and they married.
In response 26 lords rose in rebellion once
again at her newest marriage, fighting her
at Carberry Hill where Bothwell was crushingly
defeated.
With the Queen held at Loch Leven Castle and
abdicating for her child son James, the Earl
of Bothwell fled far to the north to the Shetland
Islands and then to Norway to raise an army.
However, his luck continued to fail him, as
he was arrested there for having incorrect
papers.
He was then sued by his first wife that he
had earlier abandoned, Anna Throndsen of Norway.
Losing in court when she proved he was technically
married to 3 women, including herself, Janet
Beton the Wizard Lady of Branxholm and Mary
Queen of Scots.
He was forced to pay her the ship he sailed
there in.
King Frederick II then fatefully decided to
use James as a pawn and kept him in prison,
as he was then wanted for the murder of Lord
Darnley.
He spent his last ten years going insane while
walking in a circle, shackled to a pillar
that did not allow him to stand.
There is a worn groove there still today.
He died there in 1578, and his mummified body
was afterwards kept by a church on display
to the public until 1977 when it was finally
buried 400 years later.
In 1581 a new owner took over the castle.
Francis Stewart would become the 5th Earl
of Bothwell, and was the son of James’ sister.
In 1585 he expanded the castle, adding the
last section, featuring a unique row of pillars
and a diamond studded wall, inspired by the
Palazzo dei Diamante in Ferrara Italy.
The Earl was a well travelled man, having
spent time there, and elsewhere in Europe,
was highly educated, able to speak three languages
and was known for fighting.
In fact he would often duel enemies, ending
in the deaths of David Home, and William Stewart
of Monkton, The next year his cousin King
James VI visited but he quickly fell into
trouble again in 1587 trying to invade England
for the execution of Mary Queen of Scots,
and then for raiding Stirling Castle.
In 1588 he was ordered to fight the Spanish
Armada as Lord High Admiral of Scotland, but
the next year was imprisoned for continuous
plotting.
Always in trouble, later that year he was
charged with treason but let go after trial.
Francis’ ultimate downfall would not be
his duels or treachery, but a series of cases
later called the North Berwick witch trials.
In 1591 he was arrested on allegations of
witchcraft, and charged with attempting to
kill the king by sorcery.
The chief claim was that he had risen storms
three times to stop Anne of Denmark from reaching
James VI by ship.
As admiral, Francis was then told to fetch
her himself, but gave a wildly high estimate
of the costs which caused the King to go himself.
The trials would drag on for 2 years and 70
would be charged, being tortured and made
to confess about the storms being made by
the strangling of cats that were thrown into
the ocean on the Earl’s command.
A lady named Agnes Sampson further claimed
the devil showed her a picture of the king
saying he would be consumed at the command
of Francis.
That summer Francis escaped from Edinburgh
Castle, and was proclaimed an outlaw.
While hunted, he evaded capture and while
trying to meet King James, he killed two of
his men at Holyroodhouse.
He was again searched for and spotted in 1592,
but escaped.
That year his titles and lands were removed
by a proclamation.
Shortly afterwards he attacked Falkland Palace
with a group of soldiers but they failed to
capture the king when he locked himself in
a tower.
While some of his allies were later captured,
Francis still remained at large.
In 1593 he made it to Northern England, but
returned in the Summer to hide behind curtains
in the king’s bedroom, where he forced him
to speak to him, and in the end pardon him.
However, the old watchcraft trial still lurched
ahead, and he was brought to court where he
won, having a victory banquet with the king.
Shortly after however King James decided to
rescind his pardon and send Francis to exile.
Troops were gathered to seize him and a minor
fight occurred at King Arthur’s seat, called
the Raid of Leith in 1594.
Bothwell retreated to the borders and back
to England where he tried to rescue Anne of
Denmark’s stolen crown jewels to gain favor
with the king again.
Failing, he then sided with Catholic plotters,
including the 1st Marquess of Huntly who soon
were defeated.
In 1595 he was again charged with treason,
and his brother Hercules was captured and
hung.
In 1595 Francis was hiding in the Orkneys,
before moving to France, where he went to
Spain and then on to Naples where he died
in 1612 in poverty.
From here the family lands were forfeited
but eventually through the mercy of King Charles
I they went to his son Francis Stewart, sometimes
called the 6th Earl of Bothwell, though he
never truly held the title.
He was to recover Crichton castle, but was
soon to become known for the very dark arts
of his uncle, being supposedly present when
the devil carried off a conjurer who was drunk
during a ceremony that he botched.
Francis was in the end to give up the lands
due to financial issues to the Hepburns of
Humbie who later sold it to the Callendars
of Preston Hall.
It slowly fell into ruin over the ages, becoming
an often drawn, painted and written about
location.
In 1921 the castle became a monument, and
in 1956 it was given to Historic Scotland
by its then owner, Major Henry Callander.
It has since been used in films like Rob Roy.
On the long winding approach to the castle,
Sir Walter Scott’s poem comes to mind, in
which he wrote of the then abandoned castle:
At length up that wild dale they wind,
Where Crichtoun Castle crowns the bank;
For there the Lion’s care assigned
A lodging meet for Marmion’s rank.
That Castle rises on the steep
Of the green vale of Tyne:
And far beneath, where slow they creep
From pool to eddy, dark and deep,
Where alders moist and willows weep,
You hear her streams repine.
The towers in different ages rose;
Their various architecture shows
The builders’ various hands;
A mighty mass, that could oppose,
When deadliest hatred fired its foes,
The vengeful Douglas bands.
Crichtoun! though now thy miry court
But pens the lazy steer and sheep,
Thy turrets rude, and tottered Keep,
Have been the minstrel’s loved resort.
Oft have I traced, within thy fort,
Of mouldering shields the mystic sense,
Scutcheons of honor or pretence,
Quartered in old armorial sort,
Remains of rude magnificence.
Nor wholly yet had time defaced
Thy lordly gallery fair;
Nor yet the stony cord unbraced,
Whose twisted notes, with roses laced,
Adorn thy ruined stair.
Still rises unimpaired, below,
The courtyard’s graceful portico;
Above its cornice, row and row
Of fair hewn facets richly show
Their pointed diamond form,
Though there but houseless cattle go,
To shield them from the storm.
And, shuddering, still may we explore,
Where oft whilom were captives pent,
The darkness of thy Massy More;
Or, from thy grass-grown battlement,
May trace, in undulating line,
The sluggish mazes of the Tyne.
It’s a surprisingly long walk, but incredibly
scenic, and the castle sits alone amidst a
landscape that has no modern distractions
to pull you from feeling immersed in the days
of its occupation.
On the hill above the castle sits, square,
uninviting with many dark windows.
The stable still stands, and was once two
levels, with horseshoe shaped windows.
The ghost of the disgraced William Crichton
is said by some to still haunt it as well
as a horseman.
What is truly surprising is that there is
no legend here of a curse, with so many lords
dying young, in battle, exiled, imprisoned
for life or tried for witchcraft.
Here on the pillars of the courtyard are initials
of Francis and his wife with an anchor for
his position as Lord High Admiral.
This section was added by Francis Hepburn
in the 1500s and heavily influenced by Italian
architecture.
The well that would have supplied the castle
with water in siege is now gated over.
The stair to the side is unique in that it
was the first staircase in Scotland to be
built with landings.
At one point these led up to a drawing room.
It still has an amazing view.
To the right of the diamond wall and pillars
is the original 1300s tower house which is
now partly collapsed and once had a vaulted
basement, and hall.
Below this was an oubliette or pit where prisoners
would be dropped into.
In the late 1400s the third section was added
including a 6 story tower with garderobes
or bathrooms, and bedrooms.
A wall was added to it where the diamond wall
is, closing off the square shaped castle.
These first rooms are the kitchens.
Sadly the stairs up are gone in many sections.
You often find the newest sections built are
the first to go in these older structures.
These 1800s inscriptions are from before “urban
exploring” had a name, or even graffiti.
The castle was still in private hands until
the 1920s and abandoned until 
the 1950s.
Next to a grand fireplace is the sealed up
entrance to the dungeon door that would have
led to the pit for prisoners.
It seems much of the access to the oldest
section was sealed off when the last addition
was made.
Back down the stairs are the basements below
the old kitchens.
The now empty six story tower is sealed off.
On this side, to the south of the old tower
house is the second oldest section, which
was built by William Crichton in the 1400s.
This new section had two halls creating an
L shaped castle with a gate in the middle.
The sign on the wall indicates the holes in
the corner would have been for bread ovens.
A mostly blocked off doorway next to these
stairs shows where another new section collided
with an older area.
To the side is a sealed off, possibly newer
oubliette.
We head up to the halls, the second oldest
area of 
the castle.
The stair here would have wound to the top
of the 6 story tower, but looks to be in poor
shape.
Another great view.
This huge and impressive carved fireplace
would have been the main showpiece during
Mary Queen of Scot’s wedding visit.
A side watchtower with a broken stair that
now leads nowhere.
Thank you for joining us on this exploration
of this seldom visited castle and its story
of the original Red Wedding, a feast of treachery
and bloodshed.
Join us next time as we explore three abandoned
houses deep in the woods of New England.
Until then.
