Hermitage Castle

During the last three days we have visited three castles in three countries.  On Wednesday we admired the extensive views from the ruins of Beeston Castle on a rocky outcrop overlooking the land which lay between the Welsh mountains and the Pennines.  Yesterday we visited Chirk Castle, one of the fortress castles in North Wales built later by Edward 1 in 1295 to quell any uprising of the Welsh against the English.  Today on our way home we saw Hermitage Castle described as ‘the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain’.  Because it was on one of the main routes into Scotland and situated only a few miles from the border it lay in territory that was frequently disputed with much fighting.  Despite the sunshine it still seemed a foreboding place among the deserted moors especially when realising its history.
One of its most important visitors was in October 1566 when Mary Queen of Scots heard that the Earl of Bothwell was badly injured while dealing with the Border Reivers.  She rode all the way from Jedburgh to see him before returning a couple of hours later for Jedburgh about 30 miles away.  On the way back she fell off her horse and was really ill but recovered, later to marry Bothwell after her husband, Darnley, was killed.  (more information here)
This is part of my occasional series on places connected with the famous, but tragic, Mary Queen of Scots (see the tags)
(Mary Queen of Scots 28)