Scottish castles and defences in the 17th century

**Kilted Craanen** · 12th May 12, 03:03 PM

Hello all!
Can anyone of you supply me with information on what 17th century Scottish fortifications would have looked like? Of course there were the tower houses that still stand today, but was that all the protection there was? No curtain walls or high earthen walls like the forts on mainland europe? I know Cromwell built a start-fort in inverness...would the tower houses have been defended in the same way?
Daniel

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 12th May 12, 05:54 PM

The short answer is that most of the buildings you're asking about did have bawn walls, but by and large neither the houses nor the walls were intended for defense as much as to make a socio-political statement. The single best book on the subject is Charles McKean's THE SCOTTISH CHATEAU (ISBN 0-7509-2323-7), while the best survey of these buildings is the five-volume THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND by McGibbon & Ross.

**Kilted Craanen** · 13th May 12, 02:57 AM

Absolutely ace! Thank you! I am doing some research into the jacobite risings for a game I am making and they seem to continuously attack castles and besiege them, but I had a tough time imagining a battle like that....a tower house like the one's I've been in don't really seem to fit with the gameplay...what exactly is a bawn wall? I sort of imagine just a heap of earth around a castle with a low trench in front... is that about right? and if they would use a castle as a garrison, would they have all the troops sleeping in there you reckon or have a tent camp outside with the castle reserved for the officers and such?

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 13th May 12, 08:19 AM

Generally speaking a bawn wall is the same as a barmkin wall, ie: the walls of inner/outer courtyard of the fortified house. Tower houses themselves really are, as McKean so aptly puts it, the country house of renaissance Scotland. As such they were designed to be comfortable residences rather than effective military fortifications.

Still, they look über cool!

**Kilted Craanen** · 13th May 12, 09:19 AM

So if troops were stationed there, how would they do it? put the officers in the house and the army in surrounding houses supplemented with tents?

**ThistleDown** · 13th May 12, 11:47 AM

I think you are looking at these residences as some sort of military fortresses. They were not. In the 17C they were quite wonderful baronial mansions lived in by a family and a few retainers, among whom might be a bodyguard or two combining that duty with some other. The bawn Rathdown refers to was the rear wall of many lean-to sheds, facing inward and used for storage, animals and the like. No troops. In a time of need the laird called on his family and tenants to gather around, a few with horses, but most on foot with forks and scythes. That was about the same strength as his neighbours.

**Kilted Craanen** · 14th May 12, 04:07 AM

I understand that, but in the jacobite era, many castles (such as corgarff) were used as barracks and were besieged more than once. I'm just trying to translate that to the military aspect.

**MacMillan of Rathdown** · 14th May 12, 07:28 AM

As I seem to recall, Corgarff Castle didn't become a fortress until 1748 when barracks were added to each side of the tower house and the star-shaped outer wall was built. Prior to that time it was a comfortable county house that belonged to a branch of the Forbes family. In 1745 it was used as a mustering point for the army, much as other fortified houses in the Highlands were used for the same purpose. In 1748 it was purchased by the Government and turned into a barracks, the better to police the area and (later) to crack down on smuggling.

Tower houses, despite their appearance, really are not defendable against a serious attack nor are they particularly spacious. While it might be possible to provide accommodation to half a dozen officers, the rest would have to sleep in barns and other out buildings, while the troops would pretty much have to fend for themselves, and would probably end up sleeping rough, outdoors.

You really need to read McKean's book to understand the declining military rôle of the tower house in Scotland. That said, for the purpose of gaming, you can make up pretty much anything you want to make the game interesting, and I doubt hooded men from the Scottish Castles Preservation Trust will come calling on you in the middle of the night....

**Woodsheal** · 14th May 12, 07:32 AM

The castles, barracks, and houses laid siege to during the '45 generally had small garrisons entirely housed within the structure, with no need for an adjoining "tent city." Sergeant Terry Malloy held Ruthven Barracks against the Jacobites with a force of only 12 men of the 6th Reg't of Foot. Col. Agnew of the 21st Reg't held Blair Castle (the seat of the Murray's) with a force of around 250 men, the last "siege" in the British isles. It should be kept in mind that with only light field pieces available, the Jacobites were never able to seriously threaten these places with artillery....

**Kilted Craanen** · 14th May 12, 10:45 AM

Ah ok!

Thanks! I just wanted some insight in how that would work, since I would like to make the game a bit more historically accurate than is usual, even though people probably won't mind (although the Total War community is fairly picky on that). I'm setting the unit size to about 50 units (with a max of 20 * 50 units in an army), which should sort of work then.... I just really want to show the castles in the game, since I think they are so characteristic of scotland! I guess I ll add a few tents to the outside just for the garrison effect (since in the game you can house a full army, which wouldn't fit in the castle..) and a few makeshift defenses and small houses around the castle. I'll make the walls of the castles small enough to house only 50-80 men on the walls tops then. Thanks all ^_^