Baldoon Castle

Baldoon Castle
The ruins in 2010
Interactive map of the Baldoon Castle area
General information
Status	Ruins
Type	Castle
Architectural style	Renaissance (gateway)
Classification	Category A Listed building
Location	1.5 miles (2.4 km) south west of Wigtown, south of the river Bladnoch, Wigtown, Scotland
Year built	16th century
Owner	Dunbars of Westfield (1533–34 onwards, for almost three centuries)
Design and construction
Designations	Category A Listed building (gate piers)
Known for	Inspiration for The Bride of Lammermoor and Lucia di Lammermoor; ghost legend of Janet Dalrymple
Originally gifted by King James V to Archibald Duncan

Baldoon Castle was a 16th-century castle about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south west of Wigtown, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, south of the river Bladnoch.¹

The Dunbars of Westfield owned the property for almost three centuries from 1533-34.¹ It was a gift from King James V to Archibald Duncan.²

Little remains of the castle:¹ only a length of the south wall with the springing of at least three walls on its north face, and the remains of an entrance gateway lying 50 metres (160 ft) to the north. The gateway dates from the 17th century, and are described as a good example of Renaissance work.²

The gate piers which were part of the entrance to the castle with bands of stylised rock-faced rustication alternating with lozenges. They are topped by cornices and moulded scroll caps.³

The gate piers are registered as a Category A Listed Building.³

It is said that the ghost of Janet Dalrymple of Carscreugh haunts the ruin, in a bloodied wedding dress. Janet was forced to marry Sir David Dunbar of Carscreugh Castle although she had fallen in love with another man,¹ the impoverished Archibald 3rd Lord Rutherfurd. She either was murdered on her wedding night or died insane shortly afterward.¹

The story is the basis for both Sir Walter Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor and Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Lucia di Lammermoor.⁴