A Walk in the Chatelherault Forest

September 3^rd, 2022

Picture this: A soft gray, cloudy sky descending slowly over a canopy of tall trees. An ancient forest, bathed in mossy greens and browns. The crumbling walls of a long-deserted castle rising from a deep, misty gorge. A hushed, primitive silence. And here and there, the patter of tiny raindrops and puddle splash, forming eddies like flowing rock art. The haunting landscape of Chatelherault.

And from the gloom, shadowy forms emerge, slowly, one by one, oblivious to the damp and cold, banding together as waterproof-clad spectres at an archaeology feast. For Chatelherault is their native haunting ground, Clutha Archaeology Group. And September is Scottish Archaeology Month.

No surprise then, that Clutha chose this magnificent landscape to share with our new members and visitors in our September guided tour. No matter the weather, Chatelherault speaks for itself and even the dreichest of conditions enhances the atmosphere.

Chatelherault Country Park is dominated by its Hunting Lodge. Completed in 1744, it was a highly decorative kennels for the hunting dogs of the Dukes of Hamilton, sited on a small hill overlooking a long, tree-lined Grand Avenue which once led directly to the now-demolished Hamilton Palace, seat of the Dukes of Hamilton. Clutha member and Park Ranger, Chris, described in glorious technicolour, the history of the Hunting Lodge and its position in the landscape. It wasn’t hard to imagine the Duke and his friends feasting in the kennels’ banqueting hall after a hard day’s hunting in the forest.

On most days, there is a clear view from the front of the Lodge all the way to the Campsie Fells. And behind this beautiful building lies another impressive vista – the steep, wooded Avon Gorge, the mighty Duke’s Bridge and the River Avon flowing far below. And just beyond, on the other side of the Gorge, the ruined splendour of medieval Cadzow Castle. Indeed one of the towers in the Lodge was purposefully built to capture this particular view, such is its impact.

And so, across the tall, stone arched bridge with its breath-taking gorge views and on to The Castle in the Woods, or Cadzow Castle, a scheduled monument, which includes an external moat area. It lies largely in ruins, fenced-off and supported by scaffolding, so viewing is only possible from outside. Clutha member, Ian Marshall, gave us a bird’s eye view of the inside though, based on his personal experience of an archaeological dig that took place on-site a number of years ago. The HES publication, “The Castle in the Woods” references the dig and its finds in detail.

From personal memory, Ian described his dig experience for us; the excitement of unexpectedly finding large amounts of 16^th century tiles imprinted with the letters I and M, possibly referring to James IV and his queen, Margaret Tudor. An identical tile was found at Linlithgow Palace. And the mystery of a lintel stone with the Shaw family motto found propping up a fireplace, when the castle did not belong to them. Cadzow was built sometime between 1542 and 1548, mostly occupied in the 1500s and owned by the powerful Hamilton family who sided with Mary, Queen of Scots in her quest to retain her crown. It is thought, based on the rubble that was found, that the castle may have been deliberately destroyed by explosion, possibly by its own side or by the forces of the Regent Moray during a siege in 1579. The outline of its moat and castle boundary can still be seen and accessed, but it seems that the buildings were altered by the Hamiltons during the 18^th and 19^th centuries during landscaping works on the estate, to present a more romanticised appearance.

Not all of Chatelherault’s treasures are built in stone though. Many have been growing freely for hundreds of years and our next stop was the famous Cadzow Oaks, a short walk along from the Castle. Chris’s Ranger knowledge came to the fore yet again as he explained some little-known facts about these ancient trees. For example, they are actually a hybrid species and not native Scottish oak at all. The whole area containing the oaks was within a forest where deer were herded for the purpose of hunting. The oldest tree dates back to the 1400s and would have stood proudly in place when the Dukes of Hamilton were riding, devil-may-care, through the forest chasing the deer for their banquets. If only trees could talk, what stories they could tell us!

Alongside the Oaks, less obvious to the eye, lies an archaeological site which might easily be overlooked unless specifically seeking it. It is a raised, almost circular/D-shaped earthen area, known as an earthwork, on the edge of a steep, downwards slope. Ed Archer with Lanark and District Archaeological Society excavated this site in 1989, when a Roman coin was found. It is a substantial size, but the site itself has been affected by modern path creation which gives the impression the site is smaller than it initially looks. Clutha member, Ed, explained that the Earthwork has a stone base with a turf ditch around it and likely had a wooden palisade. The purpose of the ditch was probably to keep animals inside and stop them from wandering. It’s been suggested that the site could be late Iron Age.

 

Inclement weather notwithstanding, and a further short walk along a well-maintained path to the south of the Avon Gorge, we arrived at the current jewel in Clutha’s crown – our possible Promontory Site, discovered by Clutha members Ed and Eric whilst undertaking a walkover survey of the estate. This site is the subject of ongoing surveys and archaeological digs, involving Clutha and assisted and supervised by Archaeology Scotland. The jury is still out as to what the site actually is, but it appears to consist of a small, rounded hillock, extensive flat platform and ditch/causeway. As well as digging a section of the possible causeway, Clutha has also dug several test pits on the hillock surface and side areas, which revealed several flat paving stones under a thick bed of red clay and a possible wall. Further digs are planned next year. Some sites just grab your attention and stimulate lots of discussion, questions and speculation. This is one such site and, being the mystery that it is, our visitors had lots to say about it. Is it a fort, a burial cairn, a look-out or maybe even a garden feature where tea was taken from china cups whilst enjoying the view? We’ll keep you posted!

 

No hunting estate tour would be complete without a mention of and visit to the Pale, a ditched area used to confine animals for hunting. And ours was suitably conducted by Ed, who led us to a spot where the Pale was clearly visible. It’s the sort of thing you might walk by but not recognise for what it is. We’ll know the next time, Ed!

 

And at that, somehow knowing the tour had reached its end, the telepathic siren call of the Visitor Centre Café began to echo across the Gorge, summoning from far and wide devotees of cake and coffee, a signal that the visitors would soon be gone and peace would be restored. The forest bade farewell to its guests, and silently watched the small parade of damp hats, wet anoraks and muddy boots tracing its way back, past the ancient Oaks, around the Castle, over the old stone bridge, up the hill and back to the Hunting Lodge, where they took their leave, waved goodbye and disappeared back into the mist, from whence they came.