House of Douglas. The lordship was bestowed in 1487 on Patrick Hepburn, 3rd Lord Hailes, 1st Earl of Bothwell. When he resigned in 1491 the title passed to "Bell-the-Cat", Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus. The title ultimately passed to the Earls of Home. The castle is a fine example of Gothic architecture. It consists of a great quadrangle with circular towers on the south. At the east end stand the remains of the chapel. An unpretentious mansion was built nearby by Archibald Douglas, 1st Earl of Forfar (1653–1712), and was known as New Bothwell Castle, but suffered mining subsidence and was demolished in 1926. The castle can be accessed through scenic Clyde Walkways. Brighter Bothwell Brighter Bothwell is a local environmental group, formed in 2000 for the benefit of the whole community of Bothwell. Their objective is to enhance the environment directly through the endeavours of volunteers. Since the formation of the group, many public areas have been improved and some major projects have been undertaken including the Nature Trail, The Jubilee Garden and The Marion Gilchrist Garden. In the Beautiful Scotland campaign, the group has raised the village to Silver Gilt award standard and, in 2012, Bothwell won the prize as winner of the Small Town category. Brighter Bothwell has also encouraged the formation of two additional community groups, The Organic Growers of Bothwell and The Bothwell Scarecrow Festival. Working along with Brighter Bothwell, these groups are having a positive impact on the community. Scarecrow Festival In the autumn of 2010, inspired by a number of festivals already held in villages across the UK, Brighter Bothwell developed The Bothwell Community Scarecrow Festival to extend and develop the feeling of community in Bothwell and to support the local economy. The first festival took place in September 2011, and subsequently every year after. The festival has become very popular and the main street is filled with imaginative scarecrows from August onwards. Many local businesses make their own scarecrows, as do the local children whose gardens are also filed with scarecrows at the time of year. Yorkhill Children's foundation is the beneficiary of the event. During the 2013 festival, a new event was held at Bothwell Primary School called 'The Scarecrow Festival of Transport'. It was intended to be a celebration of transport throughout the ages. Various people from the village donated their automobiles for the event, such as Boyd Tunnock