Cruggleton Castle is a multi-period archaeological site on the coast of the Machars, in the historical county of Wigtownshire in south-west Scotland.

The castle is located on a high outcrop of shale, which forms a promontory on the east-facing cliff edge, about 40 metres (130 ft) above sea level.

[1] Excavations on the site revealed the remains of a late Iron Age hut circle, and of a timber hall dated to the early medieval period.

[2] In the 1290s, John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, had a licence from Edward I to dig for lead in the Calf of Man, to cover eight towers of the castle.

[5] In 1563 the spies of Queen Elizabeth I of England visited south-west Scotland to examine the defences at Cruggleton, Wigtown, Cardoness and Kirkcudbright.

They also made a coloured drawing of the castle, now held by the British Museum, that shows a high tower, surrounded by a curtain wall with sloped merlons and defended by drawbridge and portcullis.

It passed to his son Sir John Vaus who disposed of the property to Peter McDowall of Machermore, who in turn sold it to James Kennedy in 1606.