Torthorol cast (The Gatehouse Record of the Aglionby Platt)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Torthorrell Cast.

In the civil parish of Torthorwald.
In the historic county of Dumfriesshire, Scotland.
Modern Authority of Dumfries And Galloway, Scotland.
1974 county of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.

OS Map Grid Reference: NY03287825
Latitude 55.08921° Longitude -3.51686°

This is certain as the location of Torthorol cast shown on the Aglionby Platt.

There are masonry ruins/remnants remains.

The likely form(s) of this building in 1590 are;

Masonry Castle.

Reproduced by permission of the National Library of Scotland

Description

Torthorwald Castle, probably late 14th century in date, is a mere shell, about 60 ft high. Parts of the remains are buttressed and repaired with modern building. The tower stood on the line of a curtain walls forming an enceinte and surrounded by outworks. On the W and NW these outworks have disappeared under cultivation, but the remaining portions are relatively complete.
Ground configuration suggests that there has been a circular tower at the SW extremity of the enceinte. On the N, the enceinte is protected by a broad ditch, 15 ft to 20 ft deep, and an outer rampart. There is a lesser ditch on the E and S. Beyond this on the E is an irregularly shaped enclosure flanked by a ditch through which flows a burn, apparently once spanned by a bridge. Still further E is another rampart running N then W to meet the inner scarp of the dry ditch. (RCAHMS 1920, visited 1919)
Torthorwald Castle is generally as described by the RCAHMS. To the NE of the castle and adjoining the interior of the curtain wall are the grassed-over footings of a building. A small part of the extreme NE of the outworks at NY 0333 7829 have been destroyed and built upon. Revised at 25". Visited by OS (RDL) 10 December 1963
The castle earthworks seem to suggest a motte-type structure of 12th century date. Certainly the de Torthorwalds were in occupation before the end of the 13th century, when the estate passed to the Kirkpatricks by marriage. The existing stone castle of is late 14th - early 15th century date, probably mainly the work of William de Carleil who married the Kirkpatrick heiress in 1418. Occupation continued till 1715. Fragments of medieval pottery, in Dumfries Museum, were found in 1966, 1968 and 1974; on the latter date, animal teeth and lead were also found.
All fragments found up to the present have come from a trapezoidal enclosure, to the S of the castle, which shows on aerial photographs of the site. This enclosure was interpreted in 1974 as the bailey associated with the motte. (A E Truckell and J Williams 1967; J Williams 1968; A E Truckell 1974) (Canmore)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Canmore (The online National Monument Record for Scotland) Number 66156.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MDG6602.

Books
- Coventry, M., 2008, Castles of the Clans: the strongholds and seats of 750 Scottish families and clans (Musselburgh) p. 88, 159, 315, 572
  Maxwell-Irving, A.M.T., 2000, The Border towers of Scotland: their history and architecture: the West March p. 253-8, 283
  RCAHMS, 1920, The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments and Constructions of Scotland. Seventh report with inventory of monuments and constructions in the county of Dumfries (Edinburgh) p. 200-2 no. 590-3 online copy
  MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T., 1887, The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries (Edinburgh) Vol. 1 p. 175 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Maxwell-Irving, A.M.T., 1993, 'Torthorwald Castle (NY033782)' Transactions of Dumfriesshire and Galloway Natural History and Antiquarian Society Vol. 68 p. 97-106 online copy
  Ellis, H., 1829, 'Copy of a manuscript tract addressed to Lord Burghley, illustrative of the Border topography of Scotland, AD 1590, with a platt or map of the Borders taken in the same year' Archaeologia Vol. 22 p. 161-71 online copy
Maps (Early maps)
- 1590, A Platt of the opposete Borders of Scotland to ye west marches of England (The Aglionby Platt) British Library online Gallery and Old Cumbria Gazetteer
  Blaeu, J., 1654, 'Annandiae praefectura, Vulgo, The Stewartrie of Annandail' in Theatrum Orbis Terrerum, sive Atlas Novus, Vol.5; Scotice et Hibernia (Amsterdam) Map online copy

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, RCAHMS (or its successor Historic Environment Scotland), County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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The Gatehouse website record of

Torthorol cast (Torthorwald Castle)

a location shown on a 1590 map of the West Marches of Scotland (The Aglionby Platt)