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Houses of Interest: Lothian

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The inappropriately named ECWtravelogue turns its attention to Lothian, scene of Oliver Cromwell's arguably greatest military victory. See also Edinburgh Before we turn our attention to the Second Battle of Dunbar, there are a couple of other Wars of the Three Kingdoms locations worthy of our attention. Borthwick Castle's cannon scars Borthwick Castle , was besieged by Oliver Cromwell's forces in November 1650; the garrison, short on supplies, surrendered after receiving only a handful of cannon shots. The damage to the walls from this attack is still visible. Borthwick is now a wedding venue. Dirleton Castle:  post-Dunbar the castle held out and moss troopers from the castle made a considerable nuisance of themselves. So much so, that Cromwell ordered Monck and Lambert to take the castle, with 1600 men. The castle would fall due to a combination of starvation and mortar fire (destroying the drawbridge and inner gate) on the 10th November 1650. A number of the moss troopers...
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Houses of Interest: Tayside

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Yet more Scottishness from the ECWtravelogue summer jolly... Blair Castle Blair Castle , was garrisoned for the Royalist Engager cause, but was besieged by the New Model Army who took it quickly in 1650. bronze mortar barrel, inscribed "Thomas Pitt made this peece 1614", it also bears the Rose of England and Iacobus Rex The castle entrance hall is resplendently bedecked with C16th and C18th militaria, alas no clearly identifiable C17th weaponry.  James Stanley, Lord Strange The family are closely related to James Stanley, Lord Strange (yes, that Lord Strange, who lost his head at Bolton), as a result there are a number of Stanley family portraits Outside the Castle entrance there are a number of artillery barrels. the majority of which are C16th, there is also an early C17th mortar. John, Earl of Atholl As ardent supporters of the crown, there are a large number of portraits of Charles I and his immediate family. Prince Rupert of the Rhine The tapestry room sports elaborate t...
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Thank You!

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Well flabber my ghast. I really am shocked. Shocked I tell you. I started KeepYourPowderDry just under 7 3/4 years ago as a repository for all the scraps of paper that I was amassing researching my English Civil War project. I never really expected anyone to actually read it. But read it you do. Numbers slowly started appearing, a hundred one month, two hundred the next. A thousand views in a month. Wow. (Not that numbers are actually that important: although my inner secret show off does get a bit excited when a big milestone approaches.) Slowly it ticked along and numbers slowly started creeping upwards. COVID happened, the blog kept me sane as I started researching and debunking Wargamer Facts™. From the increasing correspondence I was receiving, my rambling was helping others with the slower pace of life imposed upon all of us by worldwide lockdown. The blog was developing a life and momentum of its own. Fast forward to today's page view ticking over to the ridiculous idea of n...
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Houses of Interest: Borders

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  The latest instalment of the ECWtravelogue summer road trip. This time attention turns to the Borders. The Battle of Philiphaugh was fought on 13th September 1645, to the south west of Selkirk. After Montrose's victory at Kilsyth in August 1645, he made a critical error: rather than pressing on and consolidating his gains, he allowed his army to disperse, giving his enemies a chance to regroup.  the battlefield from the walkway Montrose appeared to be unaware that Leslie had marched north from England with a substantial Covenanter army. On the 11th, Leslie had joined forces with the Lothian troops at Gladsmuir and then proceeded south. On night of the12th, unbeknownst to Montrose, the Covenanter army advanced toward Selkirk, disrupting the quarters of Montrose's rear guard. His seriously outnumbered army was taken by surprise by the advancing Covenanter forces, who routed Montrose's army from the field. The defeat marked the end of Montrose’s effective campaign in Scot...
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