SCENIC STRONGHOLD For around four centuries, Caerlaverock Castle was part of the frontline, defending the borders of Scotland
ANDY SWEET/STRAVAIGING AROUND SCOTLAND X4, ALAMY X2, CROWN COPYRIGHT-HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT SCOTLAND X1
CAERLAVEROCK CASTLE Dumfries
The year was 1300 and the Scots were fighting for their independence from English rule. And thanks to warriors such as William Wallace, they had made gains, won battles and even gave the ‘Hammer of the Scots’, King Edward I of England, reason to sweat. So much so that he led a force himself to the border. With some 87 knights and 3,000 men, he threw his full power at the siege of Caerlaverock Castle, a small but formidable fortification. Its triangular shape, with a tower at each corner, a double moat and good natural defences caused one account to say it was, “so strong a castle that it feared no siege”, but the might of Edward was too great. Caerlaverock fell – one of the many times the castle changed hands in its violent and battlescarred history.