The castle was located around 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north-east of the village of Douglas, South Lanarkshire, in south-west Scotland.

Sir James Douglas, companion of Robert the Bruce successfully recaptured his family seat by storming the castle on Palm Sunday, while the garrison were at chapel.

In 1455 James II led an expedition against the rebellious 9th Earl, defeating his forces at the battle of Arkinholm.

The "Red" Douglases, Earls of Angus, had sided with the king against the senior branch of their family, and it was they who gained the Douglas lands in Lanarkshire.

Regent Morton came to Douglasdale in June 1574 to survey the house of the Earl of Angus with a view to repairing it and living there.

In the 1930s Charles Douglas-Home, 13th Earl of Home allowed the mining of coal in the park adjacent to the castle, in an attempt to relieve desperate levels of local unemployment.

Today, only a ruined corner tower of the penultimate castle remains, built in the late 17th century.

The tower stands on a prominent rise in the valley, to the south of the river, and was retained as a garden folly when the later mansion was built.