Polnoon Castle

Polnoon Castle, East Renfrewshire

Polnoon Castle, East Renfrewshire

Polnoon Castle, East Renfrewshire

Polnoon Castle was a 14th century fortification located on a motte beside the Polnoon Water in the Parish of Eaglesham, East Renfrewshire, Scotland.

The Montgomerys of Eaglesham

The Barony of Eaglesham (1158, Egilsham; 1309, Eglishame) formed part of the grant made by David I (1124-53) to Walter Fitz-Alan, the founder of the house of Stewart, by whom it was transferred to Robert de Montgomery as the dowry upon his marriage to Marjory, daughter of Walter and it was for many years the Montgomeries' chief possession in the barony. The spelling 'Montgomery' has been used throughout for consistency, however the Earl of Eglinton and his family still use the spelling 'Montgomerie.'

Robert (Robert de Mundegumbri) was the first Montgomery who appears on record in Scotland; he appears as a witness in a charter to Monastery of Paisley around 1160. It is generally supposed that Robert, who was a grandson of Earl Roger de Montgomery, accompanied Walter Fitz-Alan the first High Steward, when he came to Scotland to take possession of lands conferred upon him by David I.

John de Montgomery and his brother are listed on the Ragman Roll, rendering homage to Edward I of England for their estates in 1296. A later Sir John, the ninth Laird or Baron of Eaglesham, was one of the heroes of the Battle of Otterburn in 1388, capturing Sir Henry Percy, nicknamed 'Hotspur' in single combat and holding him ransom. Sir John's mother was a Douglas and a long term feud had existed between the Percy and Douglas families.

Ransoming important captives was the custom in the 14th century and Sir John used the money paid over by the English for the release of Hotspur to build himself a fine castle at Polnoon. It is said that following the chivalrous treatment of his captive, Sir John gained the lasting friendship and admiration of Sir Henry Percy and that he may have even assisted in the technical design and construction of the fortifications.

The ballad of the 'Battle of Otterburne' commemorates the events of 1388 that led to these developments:

The Percy and Montgomerie met,
Of other they were richt fain,
They swakked swords until they swat,
And their red blude ran between.

Yield thee, yield thee, Percy, he said,
Or I swear I’ll lay thee low!
To whom shall I yield, said Earl Percy,
Since I see that it maim be so?

As soon as he knew it was Montgomerie,
He stuck his sword-point in the ground;
But the Montgomerie was a courteous knight,
And quickly took him by the hand.

Sir Hugh Montgomery, the son of this Sir John, was slain at the Battle of Otterburn by an arrow fired by an English archer as recorded in The Ballad of Chevy Chase:

He had a bow bent in his hand,
Made of a trusty tree:
An arrow of a clothyard long
Up to the head drew he:

Against Sir Hugh Montgomerie
So right the shaft he set,
The gray goose-wing that was thereon,
In his heart-blood was wet.

Hugh's body was carried to Edinburgh Castle, together with the trophys of Percy's spear and pennon. These have remained with the Montgomery family to the present day (2009). Hugh's body was taken for burial to his home lands and his coffin now lies in the Skelmorlie Aisle at Largs in North Ayrshire.

John, seventh baron of Eaglesham's daughter married Archibald Mure of Rowallan Castle and their daughter Elizabeth married King Robert II.

In the fourteenth century the baronies of Eglinton and Ardrossan were obtained by the marriage in 1368 of John de Montgomery with Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Hugh Eglinton, by a sister, Egidia, of Robert II, King of Scotland.

Polnoon Castle

One suggestion is that the name Polnoon is a corruption of the old Scots word 'poinding', meaning a ransom, however the word 'Pol' may instead refer to a pool in a river, such as is present below Polnoon's site. Blaeu's map of circa 1654 records the castle as 'Pounuyn'. Punone is the name applied in a 19th century Montgomery family history.

The castle's position and layout

Illustrations of the castle are scarce, however John Ainslie's 1799 survey of the Eglinton Estates incudes a vignette of the Polnoon Castle ruins. Timothy Pont's map as published by Johan Blaeu in 1654 illustrates Polnoon as a central single storey house with a flanking building on each side, joined to the centre by a fence-like structure.

The motte lies about a mile south of Eaglesham church, sitting on a promontory with views of the surrounding countryside. The mound is rectangular, 30 by 22 m base, 18 by 10 m top, at least 4 m high and may have been built for an earlier castle of the Montgomerys, for the later structure encased the castle mound itself. The north-west corner of the tower, and the north range rise from the bedrock 3m below the base of the motte.

MacGibbon & Ross record the castle name as 'Palnoon' and only refer to the site, describing it as strongly sited on the summit of a steep conical mound'...and ..'fragments on masonry here and there. Today (2009) large chunks of masonry appear almost randomly scattered across the site and in the Polnoon Water; very little remains in place as recognisable structures. On the west side, the ground falls steeply to the Polnoon Water, which forms a confluence with the White Cart nearby. There is no sign of a bailey or outworks on the east. The unusually chaotic condition of the masonry prevents any clear attempt at a plan of the ruins. At the north west corner of the mound is the angle of what must have been a massive wall. At the base of the slopes at the south east end is a stretch of walling 1.6 m thick, possibly part of a courtyard wall.

It is related that Sir John caused a spur (Hotspur) to be carved and placed above the door of the castle in memory of his exploits.

The Armorial panel

The Montgomery armorial arms panel would have originally been set in a recess above the entrance to the castle, possibly placed there during the 17th century improvements; it was removed at some point and can now be seen above the door of the old Cross Keys Inn in Montgomery Street, Eaglesham. This coat of arms is a combination of the arms of the Montgomerie family (the fleurs de lis) and that of the Eglinton family (the signet rings or annulets). The armorial panel does not date from the marriage between the Montgomery and Eglinton families as shown by Sir John's seal which did not bear his wife's quartered arms; the only inclusion of the Eglinton family at this time was an annulet placed in the centre of the Montgomery shield bearing the fleur de lis. His son quartered the arms as shown in the illustrations. The quarter panels on the Eglinton Castle example are a mirror image of the standard Montgomerie coat of arms, the only other example noted of this arrangement is that to be found above the entrance and on the ceiling of the Skelmorlie Aisle in Largs, belonging to Sir Robert Montgomerie, conjoined with those of his wife, Margaret Douglas. The reason for this heraldic arrangement is unknown; it may be a simple error as in the Stanecastle armorial panel which is upside down.

In heraldic terms the full Montgomerie arms are described : Quarterly, 1st & 4th grand quarters, counterquartered, Azure three fleurs de lis Or (Montgomerie); & three annulets Or, stoned Azure (Eglinton); all within a bordure Or charged with a double tressureflory counterflory Gules;2nd & 3rd grand quarters, counterquartered, Or, three crescents within a double tressure flory counterflory Gules (Seton); Azure, three garbs Or (Buchan), overall an escutcheon parted per pale Gules and Azure, the dexter charged with a sword in pale Proper, pommelled and hilted Or, supporting an imperial crown, the sinister charged with star of twelve points Argent, all within a double tressure flory counterflory Gold.

The murder of the 4th Earl of Eglinton

On 19 April 1586, Hugh, 4th earl, is said to have set out from Polnoon on a journey to Stirling. Whilst crossing the bridge over the Annick Water he was attacked by some members of the Cunninghame clan and shot dead. This murder was a result of a long standing feud between the two families. Other versions have the earl departing from Eglinton; certainly the Annick Water lies on the route from Eglinton Castle to Stirling, via Eaglesham, and at that point lies close to Polnoon Castle.

The demise of the castle

Following the the fourteenth century inter-marriage of the Montgomery family and the sole heiress of the Eglinton family, the unification of the the baronies of Eglinton, Ardrossan and Eaglesham took place. Eglinton Castle became the seat of the Montgomerys and Polnoon became of relatively minor importance, especially after King James IV created Hugh, fifth Lord Montgomery, Earl of Eglington (sic) in 1503. Polnoon castle was refurbished for occupation in 1617 but was a ruin by 1676 and rapidly fell into decay, no doubt being robbed for building materials when the earl's new village of Eaglesham was being built in the 18th century, circa 1769. Blaeu's map of circa 1654 shows the castle of Pounuyn (sic) as being intact. Ainslie's map of 1796 shows the castle as a ruin.

Polnoon Lodge in Eaglesham was originally built as a hunting lodge in the early eighteenth century by Alexander, ninth Earl of Eglinton after Polnoon Castle was abandoned. The original house was built in 1733, the present B-Listed house however dates to the later 18th century. The Earl of Eglinton's trustees sold the entire Eaglesham Estate in 1844, including Polnoon Castle.

The area around Polnoon

Millhall is a hamlet situated across the Polnoon Burn to the west, centred around the Millhall Mill; now converted as private housing. The mill pond, dam and sluice are still present. This is the likely site of the old feudal barony mill as it is marked in the mid 18th century. A mill lade or water control diversion is clearly indicated on Roy's 1747 map.

Moot and Gallows hills