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H.W.Williams Delt

THREAVE

CASTLE

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THE

Scots Magazine,

AND

EDINBURGH LITERARY MISCELLANY,

FOR FEBRUARY 1812.

Description of Threave Castle, in Galloway.

TH
HREAVE, or Thrieve Castle,
is situated on an island (a-
bout sixteen acres in extent), for.
med by the river Dee, in the shire
of Wigton. It is a place highly dis-
tinguished in the annals of that part
of Scotland. Tradition reports it
to have been the residence of the
ancient lords, or petty kings in
Galloway. Of the castle however,
in which those chieftians resided,
all traces are now obliterated. The
present edifice is supposed to have
been built by one of the family of
Douglas. The origin of the name
has been variously reported. We
can attach no credit to one account
mentioned by Mr Grose, that
Thrieve was a contraction of The
Rive; which name was given to a
chieftian, on account of his riving,
or plundering the whole neighbour
hood. Others supposed the name
to have been merely a contraction
of the "castle of the Reeves."

In 1455, this castle became the property of the Scottish crown. In 1502 Sir John Dundas of Mochrum received the office of keeper, with 25 merks worth of land, called

Granger of Threave; for which appointment he paid L.100 per an num. In 1524, it was granted to Robert Lord Maxwell and heirs, for the period of nineteen years. This family, who afterwards be came Earls of Nithsdale, held it for more than two hundred years. In the time of Charles I. the Earl of Nithsdale maintained this castle and that of Caerlaverock, very gallantly, against the forces of the Coven anters; nor did he surrender, till authorized to do so, by a letter from the King himself, dated 15th September 1640,

In 1747, the castle of Threave, along with the other heritable juris dictions, was united to the crown. It has since become the property of the Laird of Kelton.

The remains of the castle now consist of a large square tower, built of small slate-like stone, and surrounded at a little distance by an envelope, with four round towers, the curtains of which are pierced for guns. There are also the remains of a gate, which had been very strong.

Varieties,

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