Farme Castle

Farme Castle stood in Rutherglen, south-east of Glasgow, beside the meeting point of the A724 and A749 roads. A 15th-century keep formed one corner of a walled courtyard, with high walls, subsidiary buildings and a castellated mansion completing the enclosure. An ornate arched gateway led into the courtyard near the keep, which rose three storeys above a corbelled parapet with machicolations and water spouts. The castle began as a simple keep, possibly built on an older foundation, and was granted by Robert the Bruce to Walter the Steward. Later it passed to the Douglases, then to the Crawfords from 1482 until 1599, when it became known as Crawford’s Farme. In 1792 an old ceiling was removed to reveal a 14th-century wooden ceiling dated 1325, with writing mentioning the Stewarts. Part of the inscription was reproduced in stone at Cuningar Loop park north of the castle site. The castle was demolished in the 1960s when it housed redundant mining equipment, and an industrial estate now covers the ground. The name Farme lives on in the modern estate, marking the spot where the medieval stronghold once stood.