Auchen Castle

Auchen Castle is a ruined 13th century courtyard castle of the Kirkpatricks which was repurposed as an artillery fortification in the later 15th or 16th century. Substantial amounts of masonry remain beneath the turf, and it is accessible from a track and footpath.

The castle was originally a simple quadrangular castle with corner towers and an arched gateway in the curtain wall. The gate was protected by a barbican of sorts and the whole enclosed within a wet ditch. This castle was slighted in the 14th century and later rebuilt. Subsequently the walls were lowered and enclosed within earth banks to provide defence against artillery.

In the 14th century, Auchens was a holding of the Kirkpatrick family, associates of the Bruces in Annandale; it was Roger Kirkpatrick who traditionally finished off the murder of John Comyn in Dumfries. However Roger was employed by the English, on record as lending money to Humphrey de Bohun, earl of Hereford as lord of Annandale. This is probably why when Bruce resecured the area he granted Annandale to Thomas Randolph, who probably repaired the castle, and it later passed to the Douglases of Morton, probably when important parts of the former Randolph holdings were withheld from John Dunbar when he was eventually made Earl of Moray later in the 14th century. Maitlands of Auchencastle are known from 1489 to 1587, suggesting that they were responsible for the remodelling, but the latter history of the fort is unknown.