Corra Castle (Corehouse, Corrocks)

Corra Castle, South Lanarkshire Photo © Gordon Brown, 7 Nov. 2005

Corra Linn Falls, South Lanarkshire Photo © G. Laird, 2 August 2008

The remains of Corra Castle, a 15th century fortified farmhouse built by the Bannatyne family, stand close to Corehouse and by the Corra Linn Falls, defended by cliffs on three sides. The ruins comprise the remains of a tower with basement cellars, and a small courtyard to its east.

Both the estate of Corehouse and the fall of Corra Linn are said to have been named from Cora, a shadowy Caledonian princess, who leaped on horseback over the cliff into the cataract.

COREHOUSE CASTLE, LANARKSHIRE.

This crumbling ruin occupies a splendid situation on the top of the lofty cliffs which overhang the famous Corra Linn on the Clyde, a few miles above Lanark. The rock on which the castle stands is an isolated promontory, with perpendicular faces on three sides, protected by the river at its base, and cut off on the fourth side by a deep fosse from the mainland. This fosse is now crossed by a roadway, enclosed with stone walls, but was certainly originally defended with a drawbridge. The enclosing wall along the north side, next the fosse, is 6 feet in thickness, and the doorway which passes through it was strengthened with a sliding bar, the hole for which still remains. There appear to have been buildings in the courtyard, which probably contained the kitchen and offices, to judge from the oven and stone drain still existing. The main building extends along the west side of the rock, and contains on the ground floor four vaulted cellars, with doors to the courtyard. These have all narrow loops in the outer walls. At the south end there is a smaller building, which may have contained the staircase, and perhaps have been in the form of a tower.

The first floor has apparently contained the hall, with a private room beyond, but, unfortunately, this floor is so ruinous that nothing more definite can be said of it.

Corehouse, or, as it was originally called, "Corrocks," was for long the house and estate of the family of Bamiatyiie. It belonged in the twelfth century to the Abbey of Kelso, and in 1400 the Abbot appointed an inquiry as to the succession of William Bannatyne to the estate. In 1695 Sir J. Bannatyne sold the estate to William Somerville of Cambusnethan. Under the castle there was a corn-mill driven by the water at the top of the fall, which is 84 feet in height.

THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND THOMAS ROSS, 1889