| The exact age of the original part of Smithy House and the houses at The Buchan is not known, although they are believed to be some 500 years old. What is known, however, is that the settlement known as The Buchan existed long before the present town of Castle Douglas., which was founded in 1791 by William Douglas, a merchant adventurer, who named the town after himself. One of the earliest references to The Buchan was in relation to the siege of Threave Castle in 1455. The castle was built around 1389 by Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas, known to the English as “The Grim” because of his countenance in battle. Archibald was a grandson of Sir James Douglas, who fought with Robert the Bruce to drive the English out of Scotland. Over the next sixty or so years, the Douglas family gradually acquired, from grateful monarchs and by marriage, more and more land, and with it power, until, by 1452, following an alliance against the King made by William, the 8th Earl of Douglas with the Earls of Crawford and Ross, they had become a serious threat to the Crown. In that year King James II summoned Earl William under a safe conduct, to Stirling Castle. After dinner the King demanded that Douglas break off the covenant he had with Crawford and Ross. Douglas refused, at which the King became enraged and, declaring that if Douglas would not break the alliance then he, the King, would, he drew a dirk from his belt and stabbed Douglas in the stomach. Although Douglas was not killed by the blow, Sir Patrick Gray, Captain of the King's Guard, whose nephew Douglas had earlier had beheaded at Threave Castle, completed the murder with a battle-axe. Douglas's body was then thrown out of a window to the courtyard below. That window can be seen at Stirling Castle today, clearly marked with the information. The Earl's brother James, now the 9th Earl, swore to avenge his brother's murder. The King knew he had to act, and over the next three years gradually reduced the land-holdings and power of Douglas, until, by 1455, he was ready to assault Threave Castle itself. The Royal Army camped at a place known as 'The Three Thorns of Carlingwark', which is believed to have been just north (i.e. the town side) of The Buchan. According to contemporary records they brought with them a 'great bombard', that is a huge early cannon, with which the King hoped to batter the nine feet thick walls of Threave Castle. However, legend also comes into play at this point. It is said that a blacksmith named McKim lived then at The Buchan, in what is today Smithy House, and that he was employed to build a monster cannon with which to assault the Castle. This he allegedly did, and some believe this cannon to have been Mons Meg, which sits today on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle. However, historical records and metallurgical tests apparently indicate that Mons Meg was made from iron ore from Belgium, and did not enter Scotland until about 1480. Whatever the truth, the indications are that a cannon of some sort was made at The Buchan for the siege. However, the sheer size of Mons Meg (total length 13 feet 4 inches or over 4metres, with a bore of 19½ inches, or 0.5 metre) makes it difficult to contemplate it having been made at Smithy House. The Earl was not present in the castle at the time and the siege did not last long. Three shots were fired at the castle before the garrison surrendered, not, apparently, due to the cannon, but to the bribery of the senior officers. Smithy House remained a working forge for many years, but at some unknown point the forge ceased operating. The house was occupied from the late 1940's until the mid 1980's by a gardener employed at Threave House, then in the private ownership of the Gordon family and which has been owned by the National Trust for Scotland since the death of the last owner. It is now the Trust's School of Gardening. The blacksmith's tools are now in the possession of the descendants of the gardener, William Edward (Ned) Duff and his wife Sadie. In 1997 extensive renovations were carried out, during which the plasterwork in the sittingroom was removed. This revealed the old forge fireplace, complete with the original granite lintel stone, 6 feet 3 inches wide and 2 feet 3 inches high. It had been very badly bricked in, perhaps in 1950, and it was not possible, for a number of reasons, to open up the fireplace again as had been intended. Also revealed, next to the fireplace, was a recess, which had obviously been a cupboard, still containing two shelves and the remains of the wallpaper that had covered the plasterwork! At the same time an extension was built, which now contains one letting bedroom, the Garden Room, and the kitchen and private quarters. |