Graded locations

Listed buildings are graded in each location in this blog. Eg. Grade I, II* II of grade I is of most importance. Grade A relates to Scotland. See BLB

Saturday 20 August 2016

Hermitage Castle, Scotland (2)

Illustration by Jules
This is my second visit to Hermitage Castle, here is my first visit (here)




Name: Hermitage Castle
Locality: Saughtree, The Scottish Borders TD9 0LU
Built: 1240 - 14th century
Owner: Historic Scotland
Grade A
Website: Historic Scotland

Location: Hermitage Castle
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: Every seven years, last heard 1885 (exact date unknown) (reoccurring)
Further Comments: Murdered by peasants who had grown tired of his wicked ways, William now returns to rendezvous with a wizard deep under the castle ruins.


It is said a phantom Mary Queen of Scots haunts the building, though there is no evidence she ever visited. Another entity is also reported here - starved to death in the dungeon, the ghost of Sir Alex Ramsey now walks the castle grounds. Some believe there is hidden treasure under the ruins of the castle, but the Devil watches over it - when people have tried to dig for the hoard in the past, violent storms have driven them away.
(Paranormal Database)

Read more about this castle on 'Mysterious Britain and Ireland' entry here

Video of me walking around the interior, with the drips of water and the birds,
it almost sounds like someone is whispering behind my back.


If the gates to Hermitage Castle were unlocked at night, you would certainly find me wandering around this ominous pile alone..OK maybe that would be foolhardy and stupid. This is a bleak place even in daylight hours. The castle has a somber feel about it, I really can't put my finger on it, its certainly is eerie even for the more hardened investigator and it's practically in the middle of nowhere. The nearest village of Newcastleton (where we stayed) is about 6 miles away.



The Boiling of Bad Lord Soulis
On a circle of stone they placed the pot,
On a circle of stones but barely nine,
They heated it up red and fiery hot,
Till the burnished brass did glimmer and shine.
They rolled him up in a sheet of lead,
A sheet of lead for a funeral pall,
They plunged him in the cauldron red.
and melted him lead bones and all.