DOUGLAS CASTLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23364, 2 December 1937, Page 5

DOUGLAS CASTLE

The impending demolition of Douglas ' .. Castle because of the danger of under- * ground mineral working will deprive* Scotland of one of its most picturesque and interesting links with the past.. because the structure raised in 1761. , superseded the older castle, which is,.- -’ enshrined in glamorous romance—the. prototype of Sir Walter Scott’s “ Castle * Dangerous.” Moreover (the Scotsman, says), it marks the end of an ancient • prophecy that “as often as Douglas, .. Castle might be destroyed it should ~ rise again in enlarged dimensions and,.-,, improved, splendour,” for its place is ,v to be taken by a modern residence. The old castle had as its first dis- . tinguished owner the good Sir James. Douglas, who led the centre of thfcv Scottish van at Bannockburn, and war . afterwards slain in his mission to carry the heart of Bruce into battle against ; ~ the Saracens. The story of his rec capture of the castle when in English,,,, hands is a romance in itself. Lad? Augusta de Berkely had promised her y ; hand to the suitor who should have > the courage to take and hold they; perilous Castle of Douglas for a yeaf ~ and a day. Sir John de Walton t00k;,,, up the challenge, and his period of,, probation had almost expired when ths. ; ,, fair lady deemed that he had proved v , his valour, and wrote to recall him.;, Douglas meanwhile had determined. > to recapture the castle, and de Walton,, was slain with the letter still in his possession. The treacherous slaying ' * of Earl William in Edinburgh Castle, and the part played by representatives of the ancient house in the Montrose- . f battles and at Sheriffmuir are well- rknown episodes in a romantic history.,