dealings with the Scots peasantry? It is probable that the murder of Ranulph took place at the site of the old castle on the Liddle crags around which the original village of Castletown grew.

It would have been at this time that the village of Castletown, situated at the junction of the Hermitage and Liddle rivers, was developing. Huddled beside the castle there would have been a miserable collection of hovels, not unlike those we see in the third world today. The natives had to labor on their lord’s land and he could summon them for military service whenever he required. He had the right of “pit and gallows” which allowed him to hang men or drown women as he deemed fit. Though nominally Christian, native culture was predominantly pagan in spirit; constantly invoking the old gods of Norse and Celtic mythology. Thus a belief in magic, witchcraft and sorcery underpinned their daily lives. On a ridge two miles north of the village stood a stone circle - a sacred place to the pagan. It is now known as Nine Stane Rig and it was to play a major part in folk memories of the De Soulis family.

In 1244 Henry the Third of England announced that “a certain castle has been erected in the marches between Scotland and England which is called Hermitage”. It is said that Henry used this as an excuse for going to war. Whether this is true or not, the establishment of a stronger castle in Liddesdale would have been seen as a threat to England. This castle, like its predecessor, would probably have been built of wood as stone built castles were not to appear in Scotland until the beginning of the 14th century. It may have stood where the present ruins of the castle chapel are situated.

A Nicholas de Soulis was made Sheriff of Roxburgh in 1248 and was described as being “the wisest and most eloquent man in the kingdom”. Another Nicholas was one of the claimants to the Scottish throne after the death of Margaret, the Maid of Norway and later became one of the Guardians of the Realm. John de Soulis supported Bruce during the Wars of Independence and died along with Edward Bruce, brother of the Bruce, at the battle of Dundalk in 1318. John was succeeded by his younger brother, William. This William has often been identified as “the wicked Lord Soulis” of ballad and legend, though many of the tales ascribed to him may belong more properly to his ancestor, Ranulph.

The ballads and legends tell us of a black magician, steeped in wickedness, who comes to a very nasty end. If they are not historically accurate, they probably reflect local attitudes to the DeSoul is family and the dread in which Hermitage was held. It could be that much of the wickedness ascribed to Lord Soulis was