This report features a localised grouping of castle sites and a bastle house that are given as a guide to defensive sites dating from the 12th to the 17th centuries in Upper Clydesdale, South Lanarkshire.
Map showing locations of sites given in the Six Castles and a Bastle Report.
- No 1. Crawford Castle – dangerous building and should be viewed only from the roadside.
- No 2. Abington.
- No 3. Roberton.
- No 4. Wandel.
- No 5. Lamington.
- No 6. Fatlips Castle.
- No 7. Windgate House – the bastle.
The upper reaches of the River Clyde have been the route in and out of south central Scotland since pre-historic times (e.g. Ward 1992 & 2010). The medieval period begins in the 12th century under the reigns of David I and his grandson Malcolm IV when they brought in second and third generation Flemish and possibly Norman descendants of those who fought for William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. Under these kings Scotland’s management came more into line with that in England, and the newcomers probably had to build themselves castles as their presence was likely to have been an unwelcome one by the indigenous populations.
Most of the historical evidence in Six Castles and a Bastle Report has been gleaned from Irving & Murrays ‘The Upper Ward of Lanarkshire’ published in 1864 (I & M 1864), while any archaeological information is the authors own work at Windgate House (Ward 2018) and that of Chris Tabraham (Tabraham 1977-78) at Roberton motte.
