 No castles in the area fully matched the description in the book, the closest being the Castle of Orbiston at the junction of the South Calder Water with the Clyde near Bothwellhaugh, but Tillietudlem Castle was essentially fictional.In June 1829 Scott wrote to his friend James Skene that though he "did not think on Craignethan in writing about Tillietudlem", public taste had adopted it "as coming nearest to the ideal of the place.