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Terregles

It isn’t clear when the first castle was built at Terregles, but it is known that there was a tower house, which was replaced by Terregles House in the 18th century.

The lands of Terregles were granted to Sir John Herice (later the Keeper of Stirling Castle from 1369 to 1370) by David II in 1364, with the title Baron Terregles. His son, also Sir John, was the first to be styled “of Terregles”.

The Herice family were descended from the de Heriz family who had moved into Nithsdale during the first half of the 12th century. The name would later become Herries, and Herbert Herries was created the 1st Lord Herries of Terregles in 1490.

In 1506 Andrew Herries, 2nd Lord Herries of Terregles, infefted William Irving of Bonshaw in his three pound land of Ecclefechan. James IV granted a charter to Lord Herries in 1510 of various lands including the five pound land of Eglisfechane.

Following the death of William Herries, 3rd Lord Herries of Terregles, in 1543 with no male issue his lands were divided between his three daughters, Agnes, Katherine and Janet.

On the 1st of February 1549 Agnes Herries and her husband, Sir John Maxwell, Master of Maxwell and second son of Robert Maxwell, 4th Lord Maxwell, were granted a crown charter by Mary, Queen of Scots, of a third part of the barony of Herries, and Terregles became a Maxwell property.

When William, the 3rd Lord Herries, died in 1543, Terregles passed to his eldest daughter, Agnes, Lady Herries. In 1549 Lady Herries married Sir John Maxwell, son of Robert Maxwell, the 5th Lord Maxwell, and Terregles became a Maxwell property.

John Maxwell was responsible for rebuilding and strengthening Terregles, adding a massive keep-like known as Mosstroops Tower (or Moscrope’s Tower) to the north-east of the castle. His successor, William Maxwell, the 5th Lord Herries, carried out further improvements in 1601.

On the 1st of April 1629 the King granted to John Aldinstoun, son of Thomas Aldinstoun, merchant burgess of Edinburgh, various lands including those of Egilfechin. These lands were wadset to John Adinston, son of late Thomas Adinston, from John Maxwell, 6th Lord Herries of Terregles, for a debt owed of 17,000 merks owed by Herries to another Edinburgh merchant, David Mitchell. Herries had been in debt to the Adinstons since at least 1613.

William Maxwell, the 5th Earl of Nithsdale and 9th Lord Herries, took part in the Jacobite Rising of 1715 and as such forfeited his titles, but Terregles passed to his son, also William.

This William married Catherine Stewart, daughter of Charles Stewart, the 4th Earl of Traquair, in 1730. Their second daughter, Lady Winifred Maxwell, married William Haggerton Constable of Everingham, and she inherited Terregles upon her father’s death in 1776.

The architect Sir Robert Smirke is often said to have been commissioned to build a new house for the former Lady Maxwell. However estate papers refer to a new house being built in 1788 and 1789, with more work carried out from 1792 to 1800. Since Smirke wasn’t born until 1780 his involvement seems rather unlikely!

When the new house, a 120 room grand mansion, was finished, the old castle was demolished, suggesting that it stood close to the site of the new house rather than the new house incorporating elements of the older building.

Smirke does however seem to have been responsible for making additions to Terregles in 1831, adding a monumental porch to the main entrance on the west side and building a rear wing. He is also probably responsible for building a stable block in the Classical style.

William Constable-Maxwell was recognised as the 10th Lord Herries of Terregles in 1858 after obtaining an Act of Parliament restoring the descendants of William Maxwell, the 5th Earl of Nithsdale and 9th Lord Herries.

In 1875 Henry Constable-Maxwell of Terregles, the grandson of Lady Winifred Maxwell and brother of the 10th Lord Herries, William Constable-Maxwell, inherited Traquair House from a cousin.

In the same year Henry’s nephew, Marmaduke Francis Constable-Maxwell, the 11th Lord Herries, married Angela Fitzalan-Howard, a grand-daughter of the 13th Duke of Norfolk. So it may be that the Constable-Maxwells’ focus shifted from Terregles with the introduction of new property to the family.

In 1924 the Government bought the estate, but not the house, and divided the land into smallholdings for soldiers who had returned from the First World War. The house and its contents were sold by the Constable-Maxwell family in the early 1930s to James Clenaghan.

During the Second World War Terregles was requisitioned, and the house and stables occupied by Norwegian soldiers during their country’s occupation by Germany.

After the war Terregles was partly occupied by James Clenaghan until at least 1955, although the majority of the house was latterly boarded up and unused. Some time after 1955 the Clenaghans moved into the gatehouse and the main house lay empty and was eventually gutted. Suffering badly from dry rot, the house was blown up in 1964.

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Alternative names for Terregles

Moscrope's Tower; Mosstroops Tower; Terregillis; Terregles House; Travereglis

Clans associated with Terregles

Herries

Maxwell

Surnames associated with Terregles

Herries

Maxwell

Where is Terregles?

Terregles is in the parish of Terregles and the county of Kirkcudbrightshire.

Grid reference: NX 93385 77802

Lat / long: 55.083199, -3.671548

Bing Maps | Google Maps | Historic maps (NLS) | OpenStreetMap | Ordnance Survey | PastMap | Streetmap | Wikimapia

OS Map for Terregles

OS map 313
Dumfries & Dalbeattie (New Abbey & Mabie Forest)
OS Explorer map 313


OS map 321
Nithsdale & Dumfries (Thornhill)
OS Explorer map 321


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Directions to Terregles

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Weather at Terregles

19°C
max 19°C / min 19°C
10km/h S
1017mb
73%
53%
03:35 20:54

Broken clouds
Weather observed at Dumfries at 16:05

References (books)

Ancient Catholic Homes of Scotland
Frederick Odo Blundell
London, 1907
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1424-1513
James Balfour Paul
Edinburgh, 1882
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1546-1580
John Maitland Thomson
Edinburgh, 1886
The Register of the Great Seal of Scotland A.D. 1620-1633
John Maitland Thomson
Edinburgh, 1894
The social, political and economic influences of the Edinburgh merchant elite, 1600-1638, Volume 2
James Johnston Brown
Edinburgh, 1985

References (websites)

Canmore
Wikipedia

Castles near Terregles

Ladye Chapel Knowe

0.9km away

Collochan Castle (site of)

2.7km away

Kirkhill Mote

3.3km away

Fourmerkland Tower

3.9km away

Maxwell's Castle (site of)

4.0km away

Motte of Dumfries

4.1km away

Carnsalloch (site of)

4.5km away

Mote of Troqueer

5.0km away

Cowhill Tower

5.0km away
more castles....
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Ancient sites near Terregles

Twelve Apostles stone circle

2.1km away

Holywood South cursus

2.3km away

Fourmerkland cursus

2.8km away

Holywood North cursus

2.8km away

Holm cursus

3.6km away

Curriestanes cursus

3.7km away

Gallaberry cursus

5.9km away

Trailflat cursus

13.6km away

Kirkland Station cursus

17.3km away
more ancient sites....

Pictish stones near Terregles

Trusty's Hill Class I rock carving

40.6km away

Eggerness Class I rock carving

54.0km away

Borthwick Mains Class I symbol stone

62.1km away

Abernethy No. 2 Class III symbol stone

100.9km away

Abernethy No. 4 Class III cross shaft

100.9km away

Princes Street Gardens Class I symbol stone

100.9km away

Hawkhill Class III cross-slab

114.8km away

Tullibole Class III cross slab

123.5km away

Court Cave Class I rock carving

126.0km away
more Pictish stones....
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Pictish sites near Terregles

Whitecleugh silver chain

43.8km away

Todholes (possible) silver chain

68.5km away

Borland silver chain

69.5km away

Whitlaw silver chain

90.1km away

Haddington silver chain

112.1km away

Traprain Law silver chain

117.0km away

Hoardweel silver chain

118.9km away

Norrie's Law hoard

138.1km away

Dunnicaer fort

228.2km away
more Pictish sites....
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Accommodation near Terregles

The Queensberry
hotelDumfries
4.3km away
Best Western Station Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barDumfries
4.4km away
The Rondo Guest House
hotelDumfries
4.4km away
Cairndale Hotel and Leisure Club
hotelDumfries
4.5km away
Moreig Hotel
hotelDumfries
5.0km away
Aston Hotel Dumfries
hotel, restaurant, barDumfries
6.1km away
Southpark Country House
bed and breakfastDumfries
6.2km away
Friars Carse Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurantAuldgirth
7.2km away
Premier Inn Dumfries
hotel, restaurantDumfries
7.4km away
The Manor Country House Hotel
hotelTorthorwald
10.0km away

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Cafés, restaurants & bars near Terregles

Best Western Station Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barDumfries
4.4km away
Aston Hotel Dumfries
hotel, restaurant, barDumfries
6.1km away
Friars Carse Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurantAuldgirth
7.2km away
Premier Inn Dumfries
hotel, restaurantDumfries
7.4km away
Trigony Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurantThornhill
16.1km away
Hetland Hall Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barCarrutherstown
17.0km away
Cavens Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurantDumfries
19.7km away
Best Western Dryfesdale Country House Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barLockerbie
20.3km away
King's Arms Hotel, Castle Douglas
hotel, restaurant, barCastle Douglas
23.1km away
Kirkconnel Hall Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barEcclefechan
25.8km away
more food.... / more drink....

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Published on the 25th of May 2011 at 1:07 pm. Updated on the 24th of January 2021 at 1:07 pm.

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Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
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