Scotland · Partial ruin
Tibbers Castle
Tibbers Castle is a medieval motte-and-bailey site on a ridge above a ford on the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The timber stronghold was remodelled in stone around 1298 into a four-sided motte with a rectangular stone enclosure and round corner towers; today only earthworks and low masonry survive as a scheduled monument.
First raised
1250
Its prime
1298
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1298
What Tibbers Castle looked like in its prime.
Perched on a grassy ridge above the River Nith ford, the castle in 1298 comprised a four-sided motte surmounted by a roughly rectangular stone enclosure (about 26.8 by 11.6 m) with a round tower at each corner and an additional south-side tower flanking the entrance. Grey-brown local stone formed the curtain walls enclosing an inner bailey with a stone well on the east and a range of timber buildings running along the west and north sides for a hall, kitchens and chamber; the south-south-east tower was the most substantial survivor.
Its story
The story of Tibbers Castle.
Tibbers Castle overlooks a ford across the River Nith in Dumfries and Galloway, with Drumlanrig Castle to the north-west. Possibly built in the 12th or 13th century, the timber motte-and-bailey was first documented in 1298, when Richard Siward remodelled it in stone: a four-sided motte crowned by a roughly rectangular enclosure with a round tower at each corner, one of the few earthwork castles in Scotland rebuilt in stone.
In the wars after Robert the Bruce's coronation in 1306, Tibbers was among the English-held castles, with Ayr, Dalswinton and Inverkip, captured in the first phase of Bruce's campaign; taken again by the English, it returned to Scottish control in 1313 and was possessed by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray. Its stonework has been called "one of the few authentic surviving remnants of English castle building in Scotland during the Plantagenet occupation".
The castle descended through the Randolph Earls of Moray until John Randolph fell at the Battle of Neville's Cross in 1346, when it passed with the earldom to Patrick, Earl of March; the Dunbar estates were confiscated by the Crown in 1435, and in 1450 or 1451 James II gave Tibbers to George Crichton, Lord High Admiral of Scotland. By the 18th century the site was farmland; earthworks and low masonry survive as a scheduled monument, investigated archaeologically in 1864, 1912 and 2013–14.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1298.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Tibbers Castle, including 2 interiors: great hall in the west range (interior), kitchens in the north-west range (interior). Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Tibbers Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1298, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Tibbers Castle.
The families that held Tibbers Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Randolph
Possessed by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray, and his successors until John Randolph's death at Neville's Cross in 1346.
Dunbar
Held with the earldom of March from 1346 until the Dunbar lands were confiscated by the Crown in 1435.
