Kilbride Castle
| Kilbride Castle | |
|---|---|
| East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland | |
Sheep on flat top of motte, seen from High Mains farm 1857 map; motte, Mains Castle, Laigh Mains farm.[1] | |
| Location | |
 | |
| Coordinates | 55°46′45″N 4°11′22″W / 55.779166°N 4.18944°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | 12th century |
Kilbride Castle was a Norman castle of the Lords of Kilbride, a seat of the Comyn family which has also been called Comyn's Castle, awarded to Walter Stewart then granted to the Lindsay family of Dunrod Castle, Inverkip.[2] It was identified by David Ure with Laigh Mains motte located just to the north of the later Mains Castle in the parish of East Kilbride, South Lanarkshire, Scotland.[3][4]
History
[edit]Kilbride was one of numerous early medieval settlements named for a cell or chapel dedicated to Saint Brigid of Kildare. The castle is sited 1.05 miles (1.69 km) north of the church.[5] The form of the motte is atypical, it may predate the 11th or 12th century.[4]
Norman noble Peter de Valognes, a chief commander in William's 1066 conquest of England, was rewarded with numerous lordships spread across several counties. In 1072, William achieved peace with King Malcolm III of Scotland at the Treaty of Abernethy. The de Valognes family of Peter and his wife Albreda had six sons; Robert, Philip, Geoffrey, John, and Roger. The Davidian Revolution extended feudalism into Scotland, bringing in Anglo-Norman knights, including the brothers Philip and Roger who wet there together at some time before late 1165. Their family name is shown in The Scots Peerage as Valoniis. With support from king William the Lion, Philip became the first hereditary chamberlain of Scotland.[6]
de Valognes (Valoniis)
[edit]Roger de Valognes became the first Lord of Kilbride. His claim to the church and its land rights was disputed around 1180 by Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow. William the Lion's court accepted testimony that the church's rights dated from John Capellanus becoming the first Bishop of Glasgow. By 1189 Roger withdrew his claim, and Bishop Jocelin granted the family rights to a private chapel in Kilbride Castle.[7]
Comyn
[edit]The manorial estate passed by marriage of Isabel de Valognes to David Comyn in the 13th century. After the Comyns' lands were confiscated by King Robert I of Scotland, the lands of Kilbride were granted to Walter Stewart. King Robert II of Scotland granted the lands to John Lindsay of Dunrod in 1382.
Ure says that the Laigh Mains Motte behind Mains Castle is the "old, and probably the first, edifice of" the Castle of Kilbride, and Mains Castle was constructed later, a short distance south down the slope from the motte.[8] Mains Castle became a Comyn Castle in the mid-15th century.
Citations
[edit]- ^ "View map: Ordnance Survey, Lanarkshire XVI.4 (East Kilbride)". Ordnance Survey 25 inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1855-1882. 7 July 2022. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ Sweet, Andy. "Castle in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire". Stravaiging around Scotland. Retrieved 2 April 2025.
- ^ "East Kilbride, Mains Castle". CANMORE. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland.
- ^ a b "Laigh Mains". Canmore. 10 June 1959. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
- ^ "Brig, Brigit, Bride (ns)". Saints in Scottish Place-Names. Retrieved 12 April 2025.
"Kilbride, settlement East Kilbride". Saints in Scottish Place-Names. Retrieved 12 April 2025. - ^ Douglas, Robert (1764). "Valoniis Lord of Panmure". The peerage of Scotland: containing an historical and genealogical account of the nobility of that kingdom, ... collected from the public records, and ancient chartularies of this nation, ... Illustrated with copper-plates. By Robert Douglas, Esq;. pp. 637–638. Retrieved 7 April 2025.
- ^ Innes, Cosmo (1851). Origines Parochiales Scotiae: Diocese of Glasgow. W.H. Lizars. pp. 99–100. Retrieved 15 April 2025.
- ^ Ure 1793, pp. 150–151.
References
[edit]
- Ure, David (1793). The History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride: Published with a View to Promote the Study of Antiquity and Natural History. David Niven, Glasgow.
- Young, Alan; "Robert the Bruce's Rivals: The Comyns, 1212-1314", Tuckwell Press, 1997, ISBN 1862320535, 9781862320536
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