Hermitage Castle Scotland

Hermitage Castle, isolated and beautiful.  Located on the turbulent Scottish borders, it was built to control this region.  We do not know who built the first castle here and whether they were English or the Scottish. The castle we see today however dates from the 14th century. 

The openings around the top of the castle and the stone corbels, which surround the building, were once the entrances and supports for a projected wooding defence platform that ran around the exterior of the entire castle.  The timber beams fitted into the square sockets in the wall with the weight being supported by the corbels.

Just west of the castle stands the ruins of a small church and graveyard.  The windows were discovered in the ground during excavations. The chapel dates from the late 13th to early 14th centuries.