 In 1346 the site was occupied by an English garrison and was used as a base to pillage the surrounding countryside.In 1410, a force led by Patrick Dunbar, second son of the 10th Earl of Dunbar and March seized the castle and imprisoned the governor, Thomas Holden.Its new Scots governor William Haliburton was also able to seize Wark Castle, Northumberland, in 1419.