A village of South Lanarkshire, Douglas lies on the Douglas Water, 11 miles (17 km) southwest of Lanark. It developed in mediaeval times in association with a castle that was the seat of the Black Douglas Earls including James Douglas, the loyal supporter of King Robert the Bruce. Chartered as a burgh of barony in 1458, Douglas later thrived as a centre of coal mining and the manufacture of cotton goods. Scotland's first wind farm was established in 1994 on Hagshaw Hill 3 miles (5 km) to the west. Douglas has its own heritage museum.
Little remains of the 18th-century Douglas Castle which was destroyed in the mid-20th Century after a coal seam opened underneath; it was used by Sir Walter Scott for his novel Castle Dangerous.