Strathaven Castle ( the back of)

Having spent all day on a H&S course in the Training Room at the office & fighting sleep most of the time( body was still in night shift mode) I got a text from my young cousin asking to help him finish the decking job he started yesterday ( he's the Chainsaw guy in yesterday's blip) so off I went and took a short cut from office to the beautiful village of Strathaven, I noticed the Castle & realised Id driven past this my whole life, so parked car, got camera out and snapped away ( it located next to the main road up on a small hill) so after taken a few on the front elevation, I popped around the back, noticed these trees & a huge part of it standing alone ( like a chimney) so still had my wide angle lens ( Tamron 10-24mm) on & sun was at the front ( making my photos silhouette) I looked up & hey presto! I liked what Id saw and here it is! Not bad for an Armature eh! : )

History lesson!

The origins of the castle are obscure, but it is believed to have been built around 1350 by the Bairds, on a bend of the Powmillon Burn. Later the castle passed to the Sinclairs and then to the Earls of Douglas. After the suppression of the Earls of Douglas by James II in 1455, the castle was sacked and slighted. Little or nothing of the early castle remains.

In 1457 Strathaven was granted to Sir Andrew Stewart, an illegitimate grandson of Murdoch Stewart, Duke of Albany. Stewart, who later became Lord Avondale, either rebuilt the earlier castle, or built a new castle on the same site. In 1534 it passed to Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, who expanded the buildings. A letter of 1559 mentions that it was here, at 'Straverin', that Master Patrick Buchanan, brother of George Buchanan, taught the children of Regent Arran.[1]

It changed hands one last time in 1611, when the castle was sold to James, Marquis of Hamilton. The last occupant was Anne, Duchess of Hamilton (1632-1716), whose main residence was Hamilton Palace. The castle was abandoned in 1717.