Rutherglen Castle was located where Castle Street meets King Street in Rutherglen

Rutherglen

Rutherglen is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. In 1975, it lost its own local council and administratively became a component of the City of Glasgow. In 1996 Rutherglen was reallocated to the South Lanarkshire council area.-History:...

. It was a large and important castle having been built in the 13th century, the walls were reportedly 5 feet thick. The castle fell under the control of the English during the First War of Scottish Independence

First War of Scottish Independence

The First War of Scottish Independence lasted from the invasion by England in 1296 until the de jure restoration of Scottish independence with the Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton in 1328...

 and was later besieged several times by Robert The Bruce. It was eventually retaken by his brother Edward Bruce

Edward Bruce

Edward the Bruce , sometimes modernised Edward of Bruce, was a younger brother of King Robert I of Scotland, who supported his brother in the struggle for the crown of Scotland, then pursued his own claim in Ireland. He was proclaimed High King of Ireland, but was eventually defeated and killed in...

, but was spared destruction unlike so many of the other castles recaptured from the English. However, The castle was burned to the ground by James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray

James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray , a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V, was Regent of Scotland for his nephew, the infant King James VI of Scotland, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570...

, in 1569, in retribution against the Hamiltons

Clan Hamilton

The House of Hamilton, occasionally and erroneously referred to as Clan Hamilton, is a Scottish family who historically held broad territories throughout central and southern Scotland, particularly Ayrshire, Lanarkshire and the Lothians...

 of Shawfield for having supported Mary, Queen of Scots, at the Battle of Langside

Battle of Langside

The Battle of Langside, fought on 13 May 1568, was one of the more unusual contests in Scottish history, bearing a superficial resemblance to a grand family quarrel, in which a mother fought her brother who was defending the rights of her infant son...

.