Scotland · Partial ruin
Hoddom Castle
Hoddom Castle is a Scottish L-plan tower house and later courtyard castle on the River Annan in Dumfries and Galloway. Its core tower dates to the 16th century and was extended in the 17th and again in the 19th century with neo-Jacobean ranges; the estate also includes the separate mid-16th-century Repentance Tower on Trailtrow Hill. The property was occupied and altered through the 19th century and remained a large country house into the early 20th century.
Its prime
1890
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1890
What Hoddom Castle looked like in its prime.
A stone L‑plan tower house rising above adjoining ranges, with a projecting wing creating the L shape and enclosed ranges forming a courtyard to one side. 17th‑century courtyard ranges and later 19th‑century neo‑Jacobean wings extend to the north, south and west of the tower. The building sits beside the River Annan within estate grounds; stone construction throughout, mixed rooflines where the tower rises above lower multi‑storey domestic ranges. Repentance Tower stands separately on nearby Trailtrow Hill.
Its story
The story of Hoddom Castle.
The Herries Inheritance and Sir John Maxwell's Tower
The lands of Hoddom, or Hoddam, lie by the River Annan in the Dumfries and Galloway parish of Cummertrees, some four kilometres south-west of Ecclefechan. They belonged to the Herries family, allies of the Bruce family who were Lords of Annandale from 1124, and passed from the Herries to the Carruthers and then to the Maxwells. At the core of the castle is an L-plan tower house of the sixteenth century, probably built for Sir John Maxwell, who acquired Hoddom in the mid sixteenth century when he married the heiress Agnes, Lady Herries.
Ten Hours Against the Regent Moray, 1568-1570
In the aftermath of the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots, the Regent Moray besieged Hoddom, and the castle capitulated after ten hours on 21 June 1568. It was briefly the base of James Douglas of Drumlanrig, a Warden of the Scottish West March, before supporters of Queen Mary recaptured it in 1569. The following year the English attacked under Lord Scrope, who blew up the tower.
The Beacon on Trailtrow Hill
The duties of the keeper of Hoddom included maintaining the watch-house and beacon on Trailtrow Hill. The Repentance Tower there is a very rare example of a mid-sixteenth-century watch tower, possibly built around 1565 by John Maxwell, Lord Herries, and it takes its name from the word "Repentance" carved on the stonework above the entrance door. It fell out of use with the Union of the Crowns under James VI of Scotland, James I of England, and was converted to a dovecote.
Courtyard Castle to Caravan Park, 1600s-2009
The tower blown up by Scrope was repaired and expanded in the seventeenth century to form a courtyard castle. Sir Richard Murray acquired it from the 6th Lord Herries; it became the property of the Earl of Southesk in 1653, and in 1690 passed to the Sharpe family. Around 1826 General Matthew Sharpe of Hoddom commissioned William Burn to design modern extensions to the south and west. The Brook family of Meltham, Huddersfield, bought Hoddom in 1877 and later bought nearby Kinmount House; further extensions were built in a neo-Jacobean style to the north and west, some at least to designs by the architects Wardrop and Anderson.
The military requisitioned the house during the Second World War, and it was not reoccupied afterwards. Burn's extensions were largely demolished in the 1970s. The castle now stands in the grounds of a caravan park, with the remaining nineteenth-century additions used as offices, while the tower house is derelict and has been placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland and on Historic Scotland's Castle Conservation Register, which aims to identify buildings that could be successfully restored. It has been protected as a category A listed building since August 1971. In March 2009 planning permission was granted for a redevelopment of the castle together with a hotel, chalets and a golf course.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1890.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at Hoddom Castle, including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Hoddom Castle.
The families that held Hoddom Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Herries
The lands of Hoddom belonged to the Herries family, allies of the Bruce Lords of Annandale, from 1124.
Carruthers
Held Hoddom after the Herries family and before the Maxwells.
Sir John Maxwell acquired Hoddom in the mid-16th century by marriage to the heiress Agnes, Lady Herries, and probably built the tower.
Hoddom passed to the Sharpe family in 1690.
Brook
The Brook family of Meltham purchased Hoddom in 1877, later buying nearby Kinmount House.
