Dudhope Castle

Dudhope Castle is an extended late medieval tower house located on the southern face of Dundee Law in Dundee, Scotland.

The castle was originally built in the late 13th century by the Scrymageour family, with the original castle being a smaller tower house. This was replaced around 1460, and then further extended in 1580 to its current L-plan structure with additional circular "angle" towers, although these were demolished in the 18th century.

On the death in 1668 of John Scrimgeour, 13th (or 14th) Constable, and first Earl of Dundee, King Charles II ignored the existence of the rightful heir, John Scrimgeour of Kirkton, and made a grant of Dudhope Castle and the office of Constable to Charles Maitland, a younger brother of the Earl of Lauderdale.

Later, when in financial difficulty, Maitland sold Dudhope Castle in 1684 to John Graham of Claverhouse, better known to most as "Bonnie Dundee". It was from Dudhope Castle that he departed for Killiecrankie in 1689; the victory which resulted in his death. In 1694, the King therefore made a grant of Dudhope Castle to Archibald Douglas. The Douglas family were thus the last family of occupants of the castle as this continued until about 1790. The history of Dudhope and the Constables are therefore inextricably interwoven with the history of Dundee. In fact, the two are inseparable. The office of Constable and occupancy of Dudhope Castle was held by four different families, as above, of which the Scrymgeours held the post for some 370 years.

The Douglas family occupied Dudhope Castle from 1694 until circa 1790. In 1792 the castle was rented in an attempt to use it as a woollen factory, although the plan never came to fruition. In 1795 the park and the grounds were leased to the Board of Ordnance, who used Dudhope as a barracks for 95 years, from 1796 to 1879. Additional buildings were constructed, including a hospital, officers quarters, stables and guard-rooms. The castle building itself was used as accommodation for 400 soldiers. The Board of Ordnance finally abandoned the castle in 1881.

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