Dudhope Castle
Encyclopedia
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
located on the southern face of Dundee Law
Law, Dundee
Law, Dundee is an area located in the centre of Dundee, Scotland. Its predominant feature is an extinct volcano which gives it its name.-Geology:...
in Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
History
The castle was originally built in the late 13th century by the ScrymageourClan Scrymgeour
-Origins of the Clan:The name Scrymgeour is believed to derive from the Old English word 'skrymsher' which means 'swordsman'. The clan appears to have been well established in Fife long before their connection with the city of Dundee where the chiefs of the clan would later become the Earls of...
family, with the original castle being a smaller tower house
Tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...
. This was replaced around 1460, and then further extended in 1580 to its current L-plan structure with additional circular "angle" towers, although these were demolished in the 18th century.
On the death in 1668 of John Scrimgeour, 13th (or 14th) Constable, and first Earl of Dundee
Earl of Dundee
Earl of Dundee is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1660 for John Scrymgeour, 3rd Viscount Dudhope. At his death in 1668, Duke of Lauderdale declared that the first Earl had no heirs-male, and had the crown seize all of his lands...
, King Charles II
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
ignored the existence of the rightful heir, John Scrimgeour of Kirkton, and made a grant of Dudhope Castle and the office of Constable to Charles Maitland
Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale
Charles Maitland, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale , was the second son of John Maitland, 1st Earl of Lauderdale ....
, a younger brother of the Earl of Lauderdale
John Maitland, 1st Duke of Lauderdale
Sir John Maitland, 1st Duke and 2nd Earl of Lauderdale, 3rd Lord Thirlestane KG PC , was a Scottish politician, and leader within the Cabal Ministry.-Background:...
.
Later, when in financial difficulty, Maitland sold Dudhope Castle in 1684 to John Graham of Claverhouse, better known to most as "Bonnie Dundee". It was from Dudhope Castle that he departed for Killiecrankie
Battle of Killiecrankie
-References:*Reid, Stuart, The Battle of Kiellliecrankkie -External links:* *...
in 1689; the victory which resulted in his death. In 1694, the King therefore made a grant of Dudhope Castle to Archibald Douglas. The Douglas family were thus the last family of occupants of the castle as this continued until about 1790. The history of Dudhope and the Constables are therefore inextricably interwoven with the history of Dundee. In fact, the two are inseparable. The office of Constable and occupancy of Dudhope Castle was held by four different families, as above, of which the Scrymgeours held the post for some 370 years.
The Douglas family occupied Dudhope Castle from 1694 until circa 1790. In 1792 the castle was rented in an attempt to use it as a woollen factory, although the plan never came to fruition. In 1795 the park and the grounds were leased to the Board of Ordnance
Board of Ordnance
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body responsible for the supply of armaments and munitions to the Royal Navy and British Army. It was also responsible for providing artillery trains for armies and maintaining coastal fortresses and, later, management of the artillery and engineer...
, who used Dudhope as a barracks for 95 years, from 1796 to 1879. Additional buildings were constructed, including a hospital, officers quarters, stables and guard-rooms. The castle building itself was used as accommodation for 400 soldiers. The Board of Ordnance finally abandoned the castle in 1881.
In 1854 the town council of Dundee acquired a sub-lease on the castle grounds, for use as recreational facilities. The lease ran for 35½ years for an annual rent of £25 until 1 November 1890. At this time the Earl of Home
Earl of Home
The title Earl of Home was created in 1605 in the Peerage of Scotland for Alexander Home of that Ilk, who was already the 6th Lord Home.The Earl of Home holds the subsidiary titles of Lord Home , and Lord Dunglass , in the Peerage of Scotland; and Baron Douglas, of Douglas in the County of Lanark ...
had intended to develop the grounds in to terraced housing.
Instead the council acquired the grounds for £31,700, raising £20,000 itself and the remaining being raised from generous citizens by Lord Provost
Lord Provost
A Lord Provost is the figurative and ceremonial head of one of the principal cities of Scotland. Four cities, Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, have the right to appoint a Lord Provost instead of a provost...
Mathewson. The grounds were opened as a park on 28 September 1895 by Sir James Low.
The building was later occupied by the Ministry of Works and was used as a military barracks during both the 1914–18 war and the 1939–45 war. It then passed to the corporation of Dundee who made an attempt to demolish the castle in 1958. In the years 1985 to 1988 the castle was redeveloped and is now in use as offices, a conference centre as well as housing the University of Abertay Dundee
University of Abertay Dundee
The University of Abertay Dundee, usually known simply as Abertay University, is a modern university in Dundee, Scotland.- History :The University of Abertay Dundee was created in 1994, under government legislation granting the title University to the Dundee Institute of Technology...
's Dundee Business School. During restoration, one of the main rooms was designated as the Scrimgeour room. It is furnished with wall hangings pertinent to the Scrimgeours and the drapes on the windows are made from material in the Scrimgeour tartan as arranged by the Scrimgeour Clan Association that was officially organized on 5 June 1971. In March of 1998 a special dinner was held by the Clan Association in memory of the 700th anniversary of a charter to the Scrimgeours signed by William Wallace
William Wallace
Sir William Wallace was a Scottish knight and landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence....
on 29 March 1298 and later reaffirmed in another charter signed by Robert the Bruce on 5 December of that same year.