Thomas Megahy

Explorer Tom Cadzow Castle was built to hide from cannon fire, which is a wonderfully awkward ambition for a castle: most of them spend centuries showing off. Its broken walls crouch below the brow of a wooded promontory over the Avon Water near Hamilton, as if still waiting for the artillery to pass. Give it a glance from the path and let the trees keep its secret. The substantial remains date chiefly from between 1500 and 1550. Historic Environment Scotland points to wide gun loops and a design adapted for artillery, and suggests that Sir James Hamilton of Finnart may have begun the work for the Hamilton family. A great outer ditch and three nested parts of the site guarded the headland. The river gorge supplied cliffs on two sides, doing a fair bit of unpaid defensive work. The Hamiltons were pulled into the struggles around Mary, Queen of Scots. The castle's own written record is thin, so it would be dishonest to stage a neat siege scene here. Hamilton Castle nearby fell several times and was demolished in 1579; Cadzow may have suffered a similar end. Centuries later, the ruin became part of a romantic designed landscape around Hamilton High Parks, where old military stone had a second career looking picturesque. You can walk in Chatelherault Country Park and view the castle from outside, but the ruin is not open for entry. Historic Environment Scotland calls it an exterior-only site, and the unstable masonry makes the boundary worth respecting. The nearby Cadzow Oaks and Avon gorge give the outing more than one reason to leave the house. Don't treat the fence as a challenge from an ancient defender; he has won.