Jul 18 2007
Scottish Castles
There are an estimated 3,000 castles in Scotland, ranging in size from royal residences and large military outposts with hundreds of rooms; to simple fortified farmhouses. Many of these castles are now ruins and some are known only through historical records. The list below is therefore not exhaustive.
Scotland contains many buildings which were built to look like castles, but are not usually considered to be castles. These are examples of tower houses or Scottish Baronial revival style.
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral is today best known as a royal residence, the summer retreat of Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. The history as a royal residence dates back to 1848, when the house was rented to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert by the trustees of Sir Robert Gordon (who had obtained a long-term lease of the castle in 1830 and died in 1847). They very much enjoyed their stay in the house, and they paid just over £30,000 for full ownership in 1852. Prince Albert immediately started making plans with William Smith to extend the existing 15th century castle, and make a “new” and bigger castle fit for the royal family.
In 1856 the building was completed, it now being a full and working estate with around 100 buildings surrounding the castle itself. The castle not including its land and estate is valued at around £160 million and remains privately owned by the British royal family.
Along with Sandringham House, Balmoral is private property and not part of the royal estate. This became an issue in 1936, when Edward VIII abdicated as king but did not automatically relinquish the private property he had inherited. George VI had to explicitly purchase Balmoral and Sandringham from his older brother, so that they could remain private retreats for the monarch.
Today, the Balmoral Estate is still in working order, occupying over 200 km² of land. The Royal Family employs around 50 full-time and 50–100 part-time staff to maintain the estate and look after the animals, and so on. The part-time staff are used particularly when the Queen makes her annual visit.
There has been some speculation that Balmoral Castle may have been earmarked as a royal refuge in the event of nuclear war. In the 1960s war plans apparently envisaged evacuating the Sovereign to the Royal Yacht Britannia, but this might not have been practical, and a land-based refuge would have been desirable. It would appear that, contrary to persistent rumour, there were no plans for the Sovereign to join the Prime Minister at the Corsham bunker complex known variously as Hawthorn, Subterfuge, Site 3, Burlington, or Turnstile. Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle would both have been too vulnerable, the former as being in the heart of London — a major target in its own right — and Windsor because of its proximity to Heathrow Airport.
The Queen was in residence at Balmoral at the time of the 1997 death of Diana, Princess of Wales. Her initial decision not to return to London or to more publicly mourn was much criticised at the time. Her private discussions with Prime Minister Tony Blair are dramatised in the movie The Queen.
Dunnottar Castle
Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky outcrop on the north-east coast of Scotland, about two miles south of Stonehaven. Its recognizable architecture is 13th century, but an earlier castle was built on this site by Caledonian tribes by 84 AD. Dunnotar played a central role in the history of Scotland from the Middle Ages through to the Enlightenment, due to its strategic location overlooking the shipping lanes to northern Scotland and also being situated on a fairly narrow coastal terrace that controlled land movements, particularly the land access to the ancient Causey Mounth, the only medieval route from the coastal south via Portlethen Moss to Aberdeen. The site, now owned by private interests but open to the public, is visited by hundreds of thousands of tourists annually.
The ruins of the castle are spread over a three acre area virtually surrounded by sheer cliffs which drop to the North Sea 50 metres below. This L plan castle is accessed via a narrow strip of land joining the mainland and a steep path leading up to the massive gatehouse. The cliffs and headland formations which extend miles to the north and south are home to tens of thousands of pelagic birds, making this stretch of Scottish coast a notable bird sanctuary of northern Europe from the standpoint of total bird populations and diversity of species. The 1990 film Hamlet starring Mel Gibson and Glenn Close was shot there.
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is an ancient fortress which, from its position atop Castle Rock, dominates the sky-line of the city of Edinburgh, and is Scotland’s second most visited tourist attraction, after the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow. Human habitation of the site is dated back as far as the 9th century BC. As it stands today though, few of the castle’s structures pre-date the 16th century, with the notable exception of St Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest surviving building in Edinburgh, which dates from the early 12th century.
As with all castles, Edinburgh’s fortress has been a centre of military activity. As an ancient fortress Edinburgh Castle is one of the few that still has a military garrison, albeit for ceremonial purposes, and the official headquarters of the Royal Regiment of Scotland and 52 Infantry Brigade, as well as home to the regimental museum of the Royal Scots and Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The military governor is Major General David McDowall (late Royal Signals), GOC of the British Army’s 2nd Division. Direct administration of the castle by the Ministry of Defence only came to an end in 1915 when the army moved to the city’s Redford Barracks. Nevertheless, the Castle continues to have a strong connection with the Army. Sentries still stand watch at the castle gatehouse between 6pm and 9am, with responsibility for guarding the Honours of Scotland.
Fyvie Castle
Fyvie Castle is a castle in the village of Fyvie, near Turriff in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
The earliest parts of Fyvie Castle date from the 13th century - some sources claim it was built in 1211 by William the Lion. Fyvie was the site of an open-air court held by Robert the Bruce, and Charles I lived there as a child. Following the Battle of Otterburn in 1390, it ceased to be a royal stronghold and instead fell into the possession of five successive families - Preston, Meldrum, Seton, Gordon and Leith - each of whom added a new tower to the castle.
Inside, the castle stronghold features a great wheel stair, a display of original arms and armour, and a particularly fine collection of portraits.
Manus O’Cahan and Montrose fought a successful minor battle against the Covenant Army at Fyvie Castle on August 24th 1644. Following Victorian trends, the grounds and adjoining Loch Fyvie were landscaped in the 19th century. The American industrialist Alexander Leith bought the castle in 1885. It was sold to the National Trust for Scotland in 1984 by his descendants.
The castle (like many Scottish castles) is said to be haunted. A story is told that in 1920 during renovation work the skeleton of a woman was discovered behind a bedroom wall. On the day the remains were laid to rest in Fyvie cemetery, the castle residents started to be plagued by strange noises and unexplained happenings. Fearing he had offended the dead woman, the Laird of the castle had the skeleton exhumed and replaced behind the bedroom wall, at which the haunting ceased.
Today, the castle is open to tourists during the summer months.
Glamis Castle
Glamis Castle is situated beside the village of Glamis — pronounced Glahmz (in IPA: [ɡlɑːmz]) — in Angus, Scotland. It is the home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore, who opened it to the public. It is now run by the National Trust for Scotland. Glamis Castle was the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, best known as the Queen Mother. Her daughter, Princess Margaret, was born there. A picture of the castle is featured on the Royal Bank of Scotland ten pound note.
The plasterwork ceilings of Glamis are noteworthy for their detail and preservation. Along with those of Muchalls Castle and Craigievar Castle, they are considered the finest in Scotland.
The castle features extensively in fiction and legend, and according to local legend has more dark secrets than any other castle in Britain.
Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Castle (Caisteal Inbhir Aora in Gaelic) is a castle in western Scotland. It is the seat of the Chief the southern branch of the Clan Campbell, the Duke of Argyll.
The initial design for the castle was made in 1720 by the architect Sir John Vanbrugh, who also designed Blenheim Palace. This design was later developed by the architects Roger Morris and William Adam, who oversaw the beginning of the castle’s construction in 1746, commissioned by Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll. It was completed in 1789 for John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll and his wife, Elizabeth. Built in an eclectic mixture of architectural revival styles, it stands on the original site of the village of Inveraray - when Archibald Campbell decided to build the castle he had the village demolished and rebuilt a mile away, so that it would not impinge on the castle’s outlook.
Incorporating Baroque, Palladian and Gothic architectural features, the castle layout is square with four round, castelated towers at each corner, each of which bears a conical spire. It is surrounded by 2 acres of formal gardens and 14 acres of parkland and lies around a mile north of the village of Inveraray, near the shore of Loch Fyne in Argyll and Bute.
Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle is a castle in Stirling, one of the largest and most important, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland and indeed Western Europe. The Castle sits atop the Castle Hill, a volcanic crag, and is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, making it easily defensible. This fact, and its strategic position, have made it an important fortification from the earliest times. The Castle is a national monument, and is managed by Historic Scotland.
It is the headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment, although the regiment is no longer garrisoned there. The regimental museum is located within the castle.
Most of the principal buildings of the Castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures of the fourteenth century remain, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century. In the 13th Century Edward I’s Scottish campaign included a siege on Stirling Castle. Historians recorded that this was where Warwolf, the largest trebuchet believed built, was first used, with devastating effect.
The gatehouse providing entry from the outer defences to the Castle proper was erected by King James IV and originally formed part of a splendid fore-front extending across the whole width of the Rock. At either end of this were massive rectangular blockhouses, and in the centre, flanking the gateway, were four great “rounds” with conical roofs. Of this superb composition there remains the southern blockhouse or Prince’s Tower (now attached to the later Palace), the adjoining length of curtain wall, the gateway and lower portion of the inner rounds, and vestiges of the outer rounds and northern blockhouse.