CASTLE HILL

[Geoff]

We know so little about Castle Hill.
Should we ask the Time Team to look into its past as there seems to be so many hidden secrets.
We're told that in 1296 Patrick Dunbar signed the Ragman Roll as Patric de Comenagh, why would he do that?
Who held it before Patric?
What kind of man was patric? Chivalric or traitor?
When he swore fealty did he mean it, unlike others?
Were there religeous connections which nearby place-names suggests?
Surely there was a church there before the 1600's Auld Kirk?
Why did Edward II spend more than a week there with a "vast army" in August 1307?
Surely Dumfries would have been better strategically?
Was there a (feared) King Arthur connection?
When exactly did the great loch drain and how?
Was there ever a market nearby (at Pathhead perhaps)?

[Geoff]

Around February 1307
Edward II stationed himself, for six months, at Lanercost Abbey near Carlisle to be in full control of his military operations inside Scotland.

March 31, 1307
The Battle of Glen Trool was a minor engagement in the Scottish Wars of Independence, fought in April 1307. Glen Trool is a narrow glen in the Southern Uplands of Galloway, Scotland. Loch Trool is aligned on an East-West axis and is flanked on both sides by steep rising hills, making it ideal for an ambush.
Robert Bruce had been involved in the murder of John "the Red" Comyn, a leading rival, and one of the most powerful men in Scotland, the previous year 1306. This led to a bitter civil war between the Bruce's faction and the Comyns and their allies, notably Edward I. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Glen_Trool

May 10 1307
The Battle of Loudoun Hill was fought in May 1307 between a Scots force led by Robert Bruce and the English commanded by Aymer de Valence. It took place beneath Loudoun Hill, in Ayrshire, and ended in a victory for Bruce.

King Edward, now in his 69th year, was determined to carry on as the Hammer of the Scots.

7 July, 1307
On the 7th July 1307 King Edward had assembled his vast army near Carlisle for yet another sortie into Scotland, and was due to cross the Solway sands at low tide, when he fell victim to a heart seizure and died on the spot.
www.theroseline.co.uk/index.php?main_page=infopages&pages_id=40

19 - 27 August 1307
Edward II comes to Cumnock Castle and stays for 8 days

25 - 31 December
The Battle of Slioch was a minor skirmish in the First War of Scottish Independence.