Barscobe Castle

About

Barscobe Castle is a 17th-century tower house in Balmaclellan, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland. It is a typical house of a country laird, and according to a panel above the entrance, was built in 1648. The L-plan tower was constructed using stone taken from Threave Castle. Barscobe Castle is a category A listed building.

History: Above the entrance to Barscobe Castle is an armorial panel bearing the arms of Maclellan and Gordon with the initials of William Maclellan, who built the castle, and his wife Mary Gordon, the natural daughter of Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar, 4th Viscount Kenmure and Commissioner of War for the Stewartry from 1645 to 1648. When William Maclellan died in 1654, his eldest son Robert Maclellan, an ardent Covenanter, succeeded to the castle and lands of Barscobe.

During the long War of the Covenants that followed the National Covenant of 1638, Barscobe became the meeting place for the late 17th century Covenanters, secretly gathering at the Holy Linn waterfall in Barscobe Wood to carry out illegal Conventicles and baptisms in their struggle for religious freedoms. Robert Maclellan was involved in a skirmish in 1666, at the Clachan Inn, in nearby St. John...