Published in Scotland Magazine Issue 16 on 15/9/2004.

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You take the low road...

John Hannavy visits some of the spectacular castles to the south of Edinburgh and Glasgow

While many of the country’s most immediately recognisable castles are located around the central belt, you don’t have to travel very far into Scotland before some spectacular castles and towers come within easy reach.

CASTLE KENNEDY
Castle Kennedy is one of a number of impressive castles in Dumfries and Galloway. The imposing ruins, consumed by fire almost 300 years ago, are all that remains of a fortified tower house built, as its name might suggest, by the Kennedy family, probably at the end of the 15th century.

At the time a hugely powerful family, the Kennedy’s impressive castle would have underlined their importance to all who saw it. By the time of the fire, it had passed to the Dalrymple family, and was the home of the second Earl of Stair, a field marshall in the armies of King William III.

Today visitors go to Castle Kennedy mainly to walk the beautiful gardens, but the dark and forbidding ruin is a reminder – in the midst of this tranquil garden – that southern Scotland was not always a peaceful place to live.

THREAVE CASTLE
Given the region’s turbulent history, the position of Threave Castle on an island in the river Dee, two miles west of the town of Castle Douglas, is an obvious bit of good planning. Access to the fortified tower in the past was either by boat or by crossing to the island via a ford. Today’s boat trip, short though it is, makes the visit that little bit more of an adventure.

While legend has it that there has been a fortress here for 1,000 y.....

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By John Hannavy

Section : Scottish Castles

Page number : 18