Bunkle Castle

Bunkle Castle, Scottish Borders
Photo © Lisa Jarvis, 22 April 2006

The earliest known owners of the lands around the Castle were a family named Bonkil (Bonkyl or Boncle) in the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

Sir John Stewart, son of Alexander Lord High Steward of Scotland, bv marriage with the heiress of Sir Alexander de Bonkil (1255) obtained the barony of Bunkle ; and through his descendants, the Stewart Earls of Angus (1329-77) and the Douglas Earls of Angus (1389-1633), it ultimately came to the Hon. Lucy Montagu' (1805-77), whose son, the Earl of Home, is owner now of more than half the parish.

A local rhyme refers to 'Davy' that is a reference to David I (1084 - 1153).

'Bunkle, Billie and Blanairne,
Three castles strong as airn,
Built when Davy was a bairn,
They'll a gang doon,
Wi Scotland's Croon,
An ilka ane sall be a cairn.'

Reference