Hermitage Castle dates to 1240 when Lord Nicholas de Soulesback built a timber structure. However, the present one is a result of an extensive building programme by William, Lord Douglas. His son, George Douglas made further modifications by adding the four towers on each corner.

For most of its 400-year life, the castle was the key to controlling the Scottish Middle March. In his book, The Steel Bonnets, George Macdonald Fraser describes Hermitage as “the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain.”

Hermitage remained in the family until the late 15th century when Archibald Douglas, Earl of Angus was ordered to exchange the castle for suspected treason against King James IV. Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell and a loyal supporter of the King, became the new owner.

Patrick’s descendants, however, were not as loyal. King James V and later Mary, Queen of Scots confiscated Hermitage Castle for periods of time. The family recovered the castle but remained notorious - by 1566 James Hepburn was rumoured to be the lover of Mary, Queen of Scots. This rumour was fuelled when Mary rode out to Hermitage to see James after he had been wounded. Less than a year later he was implicated in the murder of Mary’s husband, Lord Darnley.

As Mary’s regime destabilised, Bothwell fled Scotland for Scandinavia. Whilst trying to raise an army he was arrested and imprisoned at Dragsholm Castle in Denmark, where he remained until his death. Hermitage was taken into State ownership until restored to the Bothwell family by King James VI but was once again seized in 1594 and sold to Sir Walter Scott. Following the Union of the Crowns in 1603, the role of Hermitage as a border fortress declined and it drifted into ruin.

In the 1800s, however, new owner the Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry was inspired to preserve the haunting ruin for posterity. Today the castle is cared for by Historic Scotland.