Scotland Magazine section Scottish Castles

Blazing a trail

Although Scotland is home to more castles than you can shake a haggis at, the country’s only ‘Castle Trail’ is in
Aberdeenshire. Gilly Pickup finds out more

KILDRUMMY CASTLE Tel: +44 (0)1975 571 331 www.historic-scotland.gov.uk Kildrummy Castle was once one of Scotland’s most imposing castles. It was captured by Edward I of England in 1296 and sheltered Robert Bruce’s queen and daughter, before enduring a siege in 1306 in which Bruce’s younger broth...

By Gilly Pickup from Issue 38 published on 11/04/2008

Blazing a trail

CRAIGIEVAR CASTLE Tel: +44 (0)1339 883 635 www.nts.org.uk Almost Disney-esque in appearance, fairytale Craigievar Castle, all pink granite, multiple turrets, fanciful towers, gables, gargoyles and chimney stacks, was built in the 1600s by flamboyant Aberdeen merchant William Forbes, brother of th...

By Gilly Pickup from Issue 38 published on 11/04/2008

Not all castles are castles

When is a castle not a castle? John Hannavy looks at some buildings that don’t qualify as castles but aren’t far off.

For this, the last, of my journeys around the castles of Scotland, I have been much further north than before – the most northerly location this time is Kirkwall, capital of Orkney, while the most southerly is near Kingussie. I am also being somewhat perverse, because not one of the buildings featur...

By John Hannavy from Issue 19 published on 20/3/2005

In the footsteps of Scott

John Hannavy picks sites linked to the great Scottish poet and novelist, Sir Walter Scott

The Chatelaine of Abbotsford, Miss Jean Maxwell-Scott, took a few minutes to decide which key from the massive keyring would open the elaborate cabinet, but eventually she retrieved the 160 year old Visitor’s Book. Opening it on the page for October 24th 1844, there was the signature I had been look...

By John Hannavy from Issue 18 published on 8/1/2005

Castles that are still alive

Many of Scotland's finest castles are still thriving. John Hannavy picks his favourites

While it is the romantic turreted ruin sitting on a high rock which typifies most people’s image of Scotland’s castles, many of the countries most impressive buildings have been maintained and lived in for centuries. Others, sketched and painted as romantic ruins in Victorian times, have been loving...

By John Hannavy from Issue 17 published on 29/11/2004

You take the low road...

John Hannavy visits some of the spectacular castles to the south of Edinburgh and Glasgow

While many of the country’s most immediately recognisable castles are located around the central belt, you don’t have to travel very far into Scotland before some spectacular castles and towers come within easy reach. CASTLE KENNEDY Castle Kennedy is one of a number of impressive castles in Dumfrie...

By John Hannavy from Issue 16 published on 15/9/2004

Royal castles and palaces

John Hannavy’s castle trail takes him to the very best royal castles and palaces

Our subjects this month are Scotland’s two greatest castles, and the country’s three finest palaces. Between them, they have embraced centuries of Scottish history, and visiting them today presents a unique picture of Scotland’s past all within a relatively few miles’ driving. To many visitors to S...

By John Hannavy from Issue 15 published on 18/7/2004

The scars of age and battle

John Hannavy taps in to the special atmosphere created by many ruined castles

Looking at the ruins of so many of our country’s great castles, the visitor today can often still pick up some of the resonance which lingers from the great sieges of Scotland’s turbulent past. That is very much the case with most of the castles in this issue’s selection. The battle scars worn with ...

By John Hannavy from Issue 14 published on 2/5/2004

Mary's Royal Progress

Mary Queen of Scots got around a bit, so John Hannavy decided to take another look at sme of her residences

In the second feature in this series (in Issue 10 of Scotland Magazine), we looked at some of the Scottish castles associated with Mary Queen of Scots, and as there are so many of them, visiting a second selection seems appropriate. We start at the spectacular Castle Campbell, perched high on the h...

By John Hannavy from Issue 13 published on 25/3/2004

Standing Guard

John Hannavy looks at fortress castles on Scotland's coastline

Sailing up the River Forth in mediaeval times, be you welcome guest or unwelcome foe, the sight that greeted you as you approached Blackness would have sent a chill through even the hardiest sailor. Blackness Castle – shaped unmistakably like a ship, its prow towards the prevailing winds off the est...

By John Hannavy from Issue 12 published on 19/1/2004

Covert Castles on the coast

John Hannavy discovers some lesser-known gems

Probably no more than five per cent of Scotland is well visited and well known, and no more than five per cent of Scottish castles are instantly recognisable. It follows therefore that 95 per cent of Scotland must be little known or unknown to most people, and the same must go for the castles strew...

By John Hannavy from Issue 11 published on 17/11/2003

Mary Queen of Scots was here

A GUIDE TO THE HISTORIC HOMES OF THE GREAT MONARCH. WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOHN HANNAVY

The history of some of Scotland’s most spectacular castles is inexorably linked with that of Scotland’s most famous queen – Mary Queen of Scots. The romantic ruins and the tragic queen are what makes exploring Scotland’s history special, and what keeps drawing us back again and again to the remote ...

By John Hannavy from Issue 10 published on 5/9/2003

Land of a thousand castles

WRITTEN AND PHOTOGRAPHED BY JOHN HANNAVY

Scotland, in the minds of most of us, is defined by its rugged mountains and lochs, and by its spectacular castles. Just how many of them there actually are, probably nobody knows – and few have to time to count them all. After spending several decades photographing the well-known, and some of the ...

By John Hannavy from Issue 9 published on 20/7/2003

Inverlochy Castle

IN THE FIRST OF A SERIES CELEBRATING SCOTLAND’S CASTLES, DOMINIC ROSKROW LOOKS AT THE SETTING OF A FAMOUS SCOTTISH BATTLE

Nestled in the woods and fields in the shadow of the imposing Ben Nevis, Inverlochy Castle has been witness to hundreds of years of Scotland’s history. Inver is Gaelic for ‘at the mouth of’, and Lochy is the name of the river that runs into Loch Linnhe close by. The old castle ruins on the estate d...

By Dominic Roskrow from Issue 8 published on 17/5/2003

Great Scottish castles

Scotland has the most romantic landscapes, a feature heightened by some of Europe's finest castles. Here are 21 impressive examples

Edinburgh Castle Midlothian Perched high above the capital, there has been a castle on a rock here for over 1,000 years. It was King Malcolm Canmore’s widow, Saint Margaret, who built the stone chapel here in the 11th century. Every occupant has made changes and additions culminating in today’s mi...

By Charles Douglas from Issue 2 published on 5/6/2002