![Caerlaverock Castle from the air](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Caerlaverock_Castle_from_the_air.jpg)
Scottish castles are buildings that combine fortifications and residence, built within the borders of modern
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
.
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
s arrived in Scotland with the introduction of
feudalism
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
in the twelfth century. Initially these were wooden
motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
constructions, but many were replaced by stone castles with a high curtain wall. During the
Wars of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
,
Robert the Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
pursued a policy of castle
slighting
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...
. In the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
, new castles were built, some on a grander scale as "
livery and maintenance
In post-classical history, an affinity was a collective name for the group (retinue) of (usually) men whom a lord gathered around himself in his service; it has been described by one modern historian as "the servants, retainers, and other follo ...
" castles that could support a large garrison. Gunpowder weaponry led to the use of gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls adapted to resist bombardment.
Many of the late Medieval castles built in the borders were in the form of
tower houses
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
, smaller
pele towers
Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standin ...
or simpler
bastle house
Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are fortified farmhouses, characterised by security measures against raids. Their name ...
s. From the fifteenth century there was a phase of
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
palace building, which restructured them as castle-type palaces, beginning at
Linlithgow
Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
. Elements of Medieval castles, royal palaces and tower houses were used in the construction of
Scots baronial
Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Scot ...
estate houses, which were built largely for comfort, but with a castle-like appearance. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the military significance of castles declined, but they increasingly became tourist attractions. Elements of the Scots Baronial style would be revived from the late eighteenth century and the trend would be confirmed in popularity by the rebuilding of
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen.
The estate and its original castle were bought ...
in the nineteenth century and its adoption as a retreat by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
. In the twentieth century there were only isolated examples of new castle-influenced houses. Many tower houses were renovated, and many castles were taken over by the
National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...
or
Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...
and are open to the public.
Middle Ages
![The Bass of Inverurie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/The_Bass_of_Inverurie._-_geograph.org.uk_-_117762.jpg)
Castles, in the sense of a fortified residence of a lord or noble, arrived in Scotland as a consequence of the centralising of royal authority in the twelfth century.
[G. G. Simpson and B. Webster, "Charter Evidence and the Distribution of Mottes in Scotland", in R. Liddiard, ed., ''Anglo-Norman Castles'' (Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2003), , p. 225.] Prior to the 1120s there is very little evidence of castles having existed in Scotland, which had remained less politically centralised than in England with the north still ruled by the
kings of Norway
The list of Norwegian monarchs ( no, kongerekken or ''kongerekka'') begins in 872: the traditional dating of the Battle of Hafrsfjord, after which victorious King Harald Fairhair merged several petty kingdoms into that of his father. Named afte ...
.
[C. J. Tabraham, ''Scotland's Castles'' (London: Batsford, 2005), , p. 11.] David I of Scotland
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malcolm ...
(r. 1124–53) spent time at the court of
Henry I of England
Henry I (c. 1068 – 1 December 1135), also known as Henry Beauclerc, was King of England from 1100 to his death in 1135. He was the fourth son of William the Conqueror and was educated in Latin and the liberal arts. On William's death in ...
, becoming
Earl of Huntingdon
Earl of Huntingdon is a title which has been created several times in the Peerage of England. The medieval title (1065 creation) was associated with the ruling house of Scotland (David I of Scotland, David of Scotland).
The seventh and most rec ...
, and returned to Scotland with the intention of extending royal power across the country and modernising Scotland's military technology, including the introduction of castles. The Scottish king encouraged Norman and French nobles to settle in Scotland, introducing a feudal mode of landholding and the use of castles as a way of controlling the contested
Scottish Lowlands
The Lowlands ( sco, Lallans or ; gd, a' Ghalldachd, , place of the foreigners, ) is a cultural and historical region of Scotland. Culturally, the Lowlands and the Highlands diverged from the Late Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowl ...
.
[ Historian Lise Hull has suggested that the creation of castles in Scotland was "less to do with conquest" and more to do with "establishing a governing system".][L. Hull, ''Britain's Medieval Castles'' (London: Greenwood, 2006), , p. xxiv.]
These were primarily wooden motte-and-bailey
A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy to ...
constructions, of a raised mount or motte, surmounted by a wooden tower and a larger adjacent enclosure or bailey, both usually surrounded by a fosse (a ditch) and palisade, and connected by a wooden bridge.[T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), , p. 21.] They varied in size from the very large, such as the Bass of Inverurie
The Bass of Inverurie is the remnant of a motte-and-bailey castle based on a natural mound about high and in diameter to the south of the town of Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the Unite ...
, to more modest designs like Balmaclellan
Balmaclellan (Scottish Gaelic: ''Baile MhicIllFhaolain'', meaning town of the MacLellans) is a small hillside village of stone houses with slate roofs in a fold of the Galloway hills in south-west Scotland. To the west, across the Ken River, the ...
. In England many of these constructions were converted into stone " keep-and-bailey" castles in the twelfth century, but in Scotland most of those that were in continued occupation became stone castles of "enceinte
Enceinte (from Latin incinctus: girdled, surrounded) is a French term that refers to the "main defensive enclosure of a fortification". For a castle, this is the main defensive line of wall towers and curtain walls enclosing the position. For ...
" from the thirteenth century, with a high embattled
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
curtain wall.[T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), , p. 26.] The need for thick and high walls for defence forced the use of economic building methods, often continuing the Scottish tradition of dry-stone rubble building, which were then covered with a lime render, or harl
Harling is a rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, where it pr ...
ed for weatherproofing and a uniform appearance. In addition to the baronial castles there were royal castles, often larger and providing defence, lodging for the itinerant Scottish court and a local administrative centre. By 1200 these included fortifications at Ayr
Ayr (; sco, Ayr; gd, Inbhir Àir, "Mouth of the River Ayr") is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. It is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Subdivisions of Scotland, council area and the historic Shires of Scotlan ...
and Berwick. In Scotland Alexander II (r. 1198–1249) and Alexander III (1241–86) undertook a number of castle building projects in the modern style. Alexander III's early death sparked conflict in Scotland and English intervention under Edward I
Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vassal o ...
in 1296. The resulting Wars of Independence
This is a list of wars of independence (also called liberation wars). These wars may or may not have been successful in achieving a goal of independence.
List
See also
* Lists of active separatist movements
* List of civil wars
* List of o ...
brought this phase of castle building to an end and began a new phase of siege warfare.[
]
The first recorded siege in Scotland was the 1230 siege of Rothesay Castle
Rothesay Castle is a ruined castle in Rothesay, the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in western Scotland. Located at , the castle has been described as "one of the most remarkable in Scotland", for its long history dating back to the beginn ...
where the besieging Norwegians were able to break down the relatively weak stone walls with axes after only three days.[ When Edward I invaded Scotland he brought with him the siege capabilities that had evolved south of the border, resulting in the rapid fall of major castles. ]Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...
fell within three days, and Roxburgh
Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...
, Jedburgh
Jedburgh (; gd, Deadard; sco, Jeddart or ) is a town and former royal burgh in the Scottish Borders and the traditional county town of the historic county of Roxburghshire, the name of which was randomly chosen for Operation Jedburgh in su ...
, Dunbar
Dunbar () is a town on the North Sea coast in East Lothian in the south-east of Scotland, approximately east of Edinburgh and from the English border north of Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Dunbar is a former royal burgh, and gave its name to an ecc ...
, Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
, Lanark
Lanark (; gd, Lannraig ; sco, Lanrik) is a town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located 20 kilometres to the south-east of Hamilton. The town lies on the River Clyde, at its confluence with Mouse Water. In 2016, the town had a population of 9 ...
and Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
castles all surrendered to the English king.[C. J. Tabraham, ''Scotland's Castles'' (London: Batsford, 2005), , p. 56.] Subsequent English sieges, such as the attacks on Bothwell
Bothwell is a conservation village in the South Lanarkshire council area of Scotland. It lies on the north bank of the River Clyde, adjacent to Uddingston and Hamilton, east-south-east of Glasgow city centre.
Description and history
An ancie ...
and Stirling, again used considerable resources including giant siege engines and extensive teams of miners and masons.[C. J. Tabraham, ''Scotland's Castles'' (London: Batsford, 2005), , pp. 58–9.] As a result, Robert the Bruce
Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...
(r. 1306–29) adopted a policy of castle destruction (known as slighting
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...
), rather than allow fortresses to be easily retaken and then held by the English, beginning with his own castles at Ayr and Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from the ...
, and including Roxburgh and Edinburgh. After the Wars of Independence, new castles began to be built, often on a grander scale as "livery and maintenance
In post-classical history, an affinity was a collective name for the group (retinue) of (usually) men whom a lord gathered around himself in his service; it has been described by one modern historian as "the servants, retainers, and other follo ...
" castles, to house retained troops, like Tantallon, Lothian and Doune
Doune (; from Scottish Gaelic: ''An Dùn'', meaning 'the fort') is a burgh within Perthshire. The town is administered by Stirling Council. Doune is assigned Falkirk postcodes starting "FK". The village lies within the parish of Kilmadock and mai ...
near Stirling, rebuilt for Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany
Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340 – 3 September 1420) was a member of the Scottish royal family who served as regent (at least partially) to three Scottish monarchs ( Robert II, Robert III, and James I). A ruthless politician, Albany w ...
in the fourteenth century.
Early gunpowder weapons were introduced to Scotland by the 1330s.[C. J. Tabraham, ''Scotland's Castles'' (London: Batsford, 2005), , p. 76.] The new technology began to be installed in Scottish castles by the 1380s, beginning with Edinburgh.[C. J. Tabraham, ''Scotland's Castles'' (London: Batsford, 2005), , p. 148.] In the fifteenth century, gunpowder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...
weaponry fundamentally altered the nature of castle architecture. Existing castles were adapted to allow the use of the new weapons by the incorporation of "keyhole" gun ports, platforms to mount guns and walls that were adapted to resist bombardment. Ravenscraig
Ravenscraig is a village and new town, located in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, around 1½ miles east of Motherwell. Ravenscraig was formerly the site of Ravenscraig steelworks; once the largest hot strip steel mill in western Europe, the st ...
, Kirkcaldy, begun about 1460, is probably the first castle in the British Isles to be built as an artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
fort, incorporating "D-shape" bastions that would better resist cannon fire and on which artillery could be mounted.[T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), , p. 27.] It also used "letter box" gun-ports, common in mainland Europe, although rarer in England, they rapidly spread across the kingdom. Scotland also led the way in adopting the new caponier
A caponier is a type of defensive structure in a fortification. Fire from this point could cover the ditch beyond the curtain wall to deter any attempt to storm the wall. The word originates from the French ', meaning "chicken coop" (a ''capon'' ...
design for castle ditches, as constructed at Craignethan Castle
Craignethan Castle is a ruined castle in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located above the River Nethan, a tributary of the River Clyde, at . The castle is two miles west of the village of Crossford, and 4.5 miles north-west of Lanark. Built ...
.
Tower houses
The largest number of late Medieval fortifications in Scotland built by nobles, about 800, were of the tower house design.[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 12.][G. Stell, "War-damaged Castles: the evidence from Medieval Scotland", in ''Chateau Gaillard: Actes du colloque international de Graz (Autriche)'' (Caen, France: Publications du CRAHM, 2000), , p. 278.] Smaller versions of tower houses in southern Scotland were known as peel tower
Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standin ...
s, or pele houses. The defences of tower houses were primarily aimed to provide protection against smaller raiding parties and were not intended to put up significant opposition to an organised military assault. This has led historian Stuart Reid to characterise them as "defensible rather than defensive".[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , pp. 12 and 46.] They were typically a tall, square, stone-built, crenelated building. They were often also surrounded by a barmkyn or bawn
A bawn is the defensive wall surrounding an Irish tower house. It is the anglicised version of the Irish word ''bábhún'' (sometimes spelt ''badhún''), possibly meaning "cattle-stronghold" or "cattle-enclosure".See alternative traditional spe ...
, a walled courtyard designed to hold valuable animals securely, but not necessarily intended for serious defence.[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 33.] They were built extensively on both sides of the border with England from the fourteenth century. James IV
James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauchi ...
's (1488–1513) forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles
The Lord of the Isles or King of the Isles
( gd, Triath nan Eilean or ) is a title of Scottish nobility with historical roots that go back beyond the Kingdom of Scotland. It began with Somerled in the 12th century and thereafter the title ...
in 1494 led to an additional burst of tower building across the region.[I. D. Whyte, and K. A. Whyte, ''The Changing Scottish Landscape, 1500–1800'' (London: Routledge, 1991), , p. 76.][M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ]
A History of Scottish Architecture: from the Renaissance to the Present Day.
' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), , p. 6. A number were also built in Scottish towns.[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 21.]
An option for small landholders and farmers was the bastle house
Bastel, bastle, or bastille houses are a type of construction found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are fortified farmhouses, characterised by security measures against raids. Their name ...
, a form of fortified house that combined the functions of a tower house and a barmkyn. They were usually two-storey houses with the ground floor acting as a byre
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; th ...
into which animals could be driven, while the living space on the upper floor could only be reached by a removable ladder. Most are within of the border and were built around the turn of the sixteenth century.
Renaissance palaces
An extensive building and rebuilding of royal palaces probably began under James III (r. 1460–88) and accelerated under James IV, reaching its peak under James V
James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV and Margaret Tudor, and duri ...
(r. 1513–42). They used exceptional one-off revenues, such as the forfeiture of key lands, to establish their power across their kingdom in various ways including constructing grander castles by extending and modifying existing fortifications. These works have been seen as directly reflecting the influence of Renaissance styles. Linlithgow
Linlithgow (; gd, Gleann Iucha, sco, Lithgae) is a town in West Lothian, Scotland. It was historically West Lothian's county town, reflected in the county's historical name of Linlithgowshire. An ancient town, it lies in the Central Belt on a ...
was first constructed under James I, under the direction of master of work John de Waltoun and was referred to as a palace, apparently the first use of this term in the country, from 1429. This was extended under James III and began to correspond to a fashionable quadrangular, corner-towered Italian signorial palace of a ''palatium ad moden castri'' (a castle-style palace), combining classical symmetry with neo-chivalric imagery and using harl
Harling is a rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, where it pr ...
ing to give them a clean, Italian appearance. There is evidence of Italian masons working for James IV, in whose reign Linlithgow was completed and other palaces were rebuilt with Italianate proportions.[M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), , p. 9.] According to architectural historian John Dunbar, the results were the "earliest examples of coherent Renaissance design in Britain".
The shift in architectural focus reflected changing political alliances, as James V had formed a close alliance with France during his reign.[M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1996), , p. 16.] He encountered the French version of Renaissance building while visiting for his marriage to Madeleine of Valois
Madeleine of France or Madeleine of Valois (10 August 1520 – 7 July 1537) was a French princess who briefly became Queen of Scotland in 1537 as the first wife of King James V. The marriage was arranged in accordance with the Treaty of Rouen, ...
in 1536 and his second marriage to Mary of Guise
Mary of Guise (french: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. She ...
may have resulted in longer term connections and influences.[A. Thomas, ''The Renaissance'', in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, eds, ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), , p. 195.] Work from his reign largely disregarded the insular style adopted in England under Henry VIII
Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...
and adopted forms that were recognisably European, beginning with the extensive work at Linlithgow.[J. Wormald, ''Court, Kirk, and Community: Scotland, 1470–1625'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1991), , p. 5.] This was followed by re-buildings at Holyrood, Falkland, Stirling
Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...
and Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
,[ described by Roger Maison as "some of the finest examples of Renaissance architecture in Britain".
Much of this castle rebuilding was planned and financed by ]James Hamilton of Finnart
Sir James Hamilton of Finnart (c. 1495 – 16 August 1540) was a Scottish nobleman and architect, the illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, and Marion Boyd of Bonshaw.
Although legitimated in 1512 while still a minor, he contin ...
(c. 1495–1540), in addition to his work at Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle is a 15th-century fortress, near the village of Blackness, Scotland, on the south shore of the Firth of Forth.
It was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440s. At this time, Blacknes ...
, Rothesay Castle
Rothesay Castle is a ruined castle in Rothesay, the principal town on the Isle of Bute, in western Scotland. Located at , the castle has been described as "one of the most remarkable in Scotland", for its long history dating back to the beginn ...
, the house at Crawfordjohn
Crawfordjohn ( gd, Creamhain Eòin) is a small village and civil parish of 117 residents located in South Lanarkshire, Scotland.The Imperial gazetteer of Scotland. 1854. VOL.I (AAN-GORDON) by Rev. John Marius Wilson. p.315 https://archive.org/ ...
, the "New Inn" in the St Andrews Cathedral Priory
St Andrews Cathedral Priory was a priory of Augustinian canons in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was one of the great religious houses in Scotland, and instrumental in the founding of the University of St Andrews.
History
Plans were made for it ...
and the lodging at Balmerino Abbey
Balmerino Abbey, or St Edward's Abbey, in Balmerino, Fife, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastic community which has been ruinous since the 16th century.
History
It was founded from 1227 to 1229 by monks from Melrose Abbey with the patronage ...
for the ailing Queen Madeleine. Rather than slavishly copying continental forms, most Scottish architecture incorporated elements of these styles into traditional local patterns,[A. Thomas, "The Renaissance", in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, eds, ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), , p. 189.] adapting them to Scottish idioms and materials (particularly stone and harl).[D. M. Palliser, ''The Cambridge Urban History of Britain: 600–1540, Volume 1'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), , pp. 391–2.] Similar themes can be seen in the private houses of aristocrats, as in Mar's Wark
Mar's Wark is a ruined building in Stirling built 1570–1572 by John Erskine, Regent of Scotland and Earl of Mar, and now in the care of Historic Scotland. Mar intended the building for the principal residence of the Erskine family in Stirli ...
, Stirling (c. 1570) and Crichton Castle
Crichton Castle is a ruined castle near the village of Crichton in Midlothian, Scotland. It is situated at the head of the River Tyne, south of the village of Pathhead, and the same distance east of Gorebridge.
Constructed as a tower house i ...
, built for the Earl of Bothwell
Earl of Bothwell was a title that was created twice in the Peerage of Scotland. It was first created for Patrick Hepburn in 1488, and was forfeited in 1567. Subsequently, the earldom was re-created for the 4th Earl's nephew and heir of line, F ...
in 1580s.[A. Thomas, "The Renaissance", in T. M. Devine and J. Wormald, eds, ''The Oxford Handbook of Modern Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), , pp. 201–2.]
Sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
In the period of French intervention in the 1540s and 1550s, at the end of the Rough Wooing
The Rough Wooing (December 1543 – March 1551), also known as the Eight Years' War, was part of the Anglo-Scottish Wars of the 16th century. Following its break with the Roman Catholic Church, England attacked Scotland, partly to break the ...
, Scotland was given a defended border of a series of earthwork forts and additions to existing castles. These included the erection of single bastion
A bastion or bulwark is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fi ...
s at Edinburgh, Stirling and Dunbar.[M. McLeod, "Warfare, weapons and fortifications: 2 1450–1600" in M. Lynch, ed., ''The Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001), , pp. 637–8.]
The unique style of great private houses in Scotland, later known as Scots baronial, has been located in origin to the period of the 1560s. It kept many of the features of the high walled Medieval castles that had been largely made obsolete by gunpowder weapons and may have been influenced by the French masons brought to Scotland to work on royal palaces. It drew on the tower houses
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
and peel towers
Peel towers (also spelt pele) are small fortified keeps or tower houses, built along the English and Scottish borders in the Scottish Marches and North of England, mainly between the mid-14th century and about 1600. They were free-standing ...
,[J. Summerson, ''Architecture in Britain, 1530 to 1830'' (New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press, 9th edn., 1993), , pp. 502–11.] with their parapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
s, corbels
In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the st ...
, and bartizan
A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging, wall-mounted turret projecting from the walls of late medieval and early-modern fortifications from the ...
s. The new estate houses built from the late sixteenth century by nobles and lairds were primarily built for comfort, not for defence, although they were often called castles. They retained many of these external features which had become associated with nobility, but with a larger ground plan. This was classically a "Z-plan" of a rectangular block with towers, as at Colliston Castle
Colliston Castle is a 16th-century Z-plan tower house, altered and extended in the 18th and 19th centuries. It is located north of Arbroath, in Angus, Scotland, and remains occupied.
History
Colliston was part of the lands of Arbroath Abbey ...
(1583) and Claypotts Castle
Claypotts Castle is a late medieval castle in the suburban West Ferry area of Dundee, Scotland. It is one of the best-preserved examples of a 16th-century Z-plan tower house in Scotland. Now surrounded by modern housing, the castle is maint ...
(1569–88).[
Particularly influential was the work of ]William Wallace
Sir William Wallace ( gd, Uilleam Uallas, ; Norman French: ; 23 August 1305) was a Scottish knight who became one of the main leaders during the First War of Scottish Independence.
Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army a ...
, the king's master mason from 1617 until his death in 1631. He worked on the rebuilding of the collapsed North Range of Linlithgow from 1618, Winton House Winton may refer to:
Places Australia
*Winton, Queensland, a town
*Shire of Winton, Queensland
*Winton, Victoria, a town
*Winton Motor Raceway in Winton, Victoria
New Zealand
*Winton, New Zealand, a town in Southland
United Kingdom
*Winton, an ar ...
for George Seton, 3rd Earl of Winton and began work on Heriot's Hospital
George Heriot's School is a Scottish independent primary and secondary day school on Lauriston Place in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. In the early 21st century, it has more than 1600 pupils, 155 teaching staff, and 80 non-teaching staff. ...
, Edinburgh. He adopted a distinctive style that applied elements of Scottish fortification and Flemish influences to a Renaissance plan like that used at Château d'Ancy-le-Franc
Château d'Ancy-le-Franc is a Renaissance-style château of the 16th century located in the town of Ancy-le-Franc in the department of Yonne, in France.
History
The site was originally occupied by a 12th-century fort, which survived until the ...
. This style can be seen in lord's houses built at Caerlaverlock (1620), Moray House
The Moray House School of Education and Sport ('Moray House') is a school within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh. It is based in historic buildings on the Holyrood Campus, located between the C ...
, Edinburgh (1628) and Drumlanrig Castle
Drumlanrig Castle is situated on the Queensberry Estate in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. The category A listed castle is the Dumfriesshire home of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry. It is open to the public at set times.
Con ...
(1675–89), and was highly influential until the baronial style gave way to the grander English forms associated with Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable archit ...
in the later seventeenth century, which were used to produce classically inspired and comfortable country houses.[
]
Decline
In 1603 James VI of Scotland
James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...
inherited the crown of England, bringing a period of peace between the two countries. The royal court left for London, and as a result – with the exceptions of occasional visits – building work on royal castles north of the border largely ceased.[M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: from the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), , p. 38.] Some castles continued to have modest military utility into the eighteenth century. The royal castles of Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
and Stirling, along with Dunstaffnage, Dunollie, Blackness and Ruthven Castle, continued in use as practical fortifications.[ Tower houses were being built up until the 1640s. After the ]Restoration
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to:
* Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage
** Audio restoration
** Film restoration
** Image restoration
** Textile restoration
* Restoration ecology
...
the fortified tower house fell out of fashion, but the weak state of the Scottish economy was such that, while many larger properties were simply abandoned, the more modest castles continued to be used and adapted as houses, rather than rebuilt.[I. D. Whyte, and K. A. Whyte, ''The Changing Scottish Landscape, 1500–1800'' (London: Routledge, 1991), , p. 77.][S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 57.]
In the Bishop's Wars
The 1639 and 1640 Bishops' Wars () were the first of the conflicts known collectively as the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which took place in Scotland, England and Ireland. Others include the Irish Confederate Wars, the First and S ...
castles that held out for the king against the Covenanter
Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from ''Covenan ...
s, including Caerlaverock
Caerlaverock (; gd, Cille Bhlàthain) is a civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland.
The parish was historically in Dumfriesshire. The area includes:
* Caerlaverock Castle, a 13th-century castle, located south of Dumfries, Scotland
* Ca ...
and Threave in 1640, were slighted
Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...
, with their roofs removed and walls breached to make them uninhabitable. Tantallon was used as a base for Scottish attacks on Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...
's advancing army in 1651. As a result, it was pounded into submission by the New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
's siege train, losing its end towers and ceasing to be a residence from that point.[M. Brown, ''Scottish Baronial Castles 1250–1450'' (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2009), , p. 57.] The sequence of Jacobite risings
, war =
, image = Prince James Francis Edward Stuart by Louis Gabriel Blanchet.jpg
, image_size = 150px
, caption = James Francis Edward Stuart, Jacobite claimant between 1701 and 1766
, active ...
from 1689 threatened the Crown in Scotland, culminating in the rebellion in 1745.[ Stirling was able to withstand the Jacobite attack in 1745 and the siege of ]Blair Castle
Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: Caisteil Bhlàir) stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, ...
, at the end of the rebellion in 1746, was the final castle siege to occur in the British Isles.[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 7.] In the aftermath of the conflict Corgaff and many others castles were used as barracks for the forces sent to garrison the Highlands
Highland is a broad term for areas of higher elevation, such as a mountain range or mountainous plateau.
Highland, Highlands, or The Highlands, may also refer to:
Places Albania
* Dukagjin Highlands
Armenia
* Armenian Highlands
Australia
*Sou ...
.[ ]Kildrummy
Kildrummy ( gd, Cionn Droma) is a hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland near the River Don, west of Alford. The hamlet's primary school closed in 2003.
Its church was built in 1805. Nearby Kildrummy Castle has a long history dating back to at lea ...
, Huntly
Huntly ( gd, Srath Bhalgaidh or ''Hunndaidh'') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, formerly known as Milton of Strathbogie or simply Strathbogie. It had a population of 4,460 in 2004 and is the site of Huntly Castle. Its neighbouring settlemen ...
and Doune
Doune (; from Scottish Gaelic: ''An Dùn'', meaning 'the fort') is a burgh within Perthshire. The town is administered by Stirling Council. Doune is assigned Falkirk postcodes starting "FK". The village lies within the parish of Kilmadock and mai ...
were destroyed as a result of their part in the rebellion.[
From the late eighteenth century, castles became tourist attractions. ]Blair Castle
Blair Castle (in Scottish Gaelic: Caisteil Bhlàir) stands in its grounds near the village of Blair Atholl in Perthshire in Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl, ...
was a popular location on account of its landscaped gardens, and Stirling Castle
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...
because of its romantic historic connections. Tours became increasingly popular during the nineteenth century, usually starting at Edinburgh and then spending up to two weeks further north, taking advantage of the expanding rail and steamer network. Blair Castle remained popular, but additional castles joined the circuit, with Cawdor Castle
Cawdor Castle is a castle in the parish of Cawdor in Nairnshire, Scotland. It is built around a 15th-century tower house, with substantial additions in later centuries. Originally a property of the Calder family, it passed to the Campbells in t ...
becoming popular once the railway line reached north to Fort William. Scottish castle guidebooks became well known for providing long historical accounts of their sites, often drawing on the plots of Romantic novels for the details. Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels ''Ivanhoe'', ''Rob Roy (n ...
's novels set in Scotland popularised several northern castles, including Tantallon, which was featured in the poem '' Marmion'' (1808).
Gothic Revival
In Scotland there was a revival of the castle in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries as part of the wider Gothic Revival
Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
movement, as new houses were built and existing buildings remodeled in the Gothic and Scots Baronial styles. Inveraray Castle
Inveraray Castle (pronounced or ; Scottish Gaelic ''Caisteal Inbhir Aora'' ) is a country house near Inveraray in the county of Argyll, in western Scotland, on the shore of Loch Fyne, Scotland's longest sea loch. It is one of the earliest ex ...
, constructed from 1746 with design input from William Adam, displays the incorporation of turrets and is among the first houses in the revived style. His son Robert Adam
Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his o ...
's houses in this style included Mellerstain
Mellerstain House is a stately home around north of Kelso in the Borders, Scotland. It is currently the home of the 14th Earl of Haddington, and is a historical monument of Scotland.
History
The older house or castle at Mellerstain included ...
and Wedderburn in Berwickshire and Seton House in East Lothian, but it is most clearly seen at Culzean Castle
Culzean Castle ( , see yogh; sco, Cullain) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, in South Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy, but is ...
, Ayrshire, remodelled by Adam from 1777. These were largely conventional Palladian style houses that incorporated some external features of the Scots baronial style.
Important for the adoption of the revival in the early nineteenth century was Abbotsford House
Abbotsford is a historic country house in the Scottish Borders, near Galashiels, on the south bank of the River Tweed. Now open to the public, it was built as the residence of historical novelist and poet Sir Walter Scott between 1817 and 1825 ...
, the residence of Walter Scott. Re-built for him from 1816, it became a model for the modern revival of the baronial style. Common features borrowed from sixteenth- and seventeenth-century houses included battlemented gateways, crow-stepped gable
A stepped gable, crow-stepped gable, or corbie step is a stairstep type of design at the top of the triangular gable-end of a building. The top of the parapet wall projects above the roofline and the top of the brick or stone wall is stacked in a ...
s, pointed turrets and machicolations
A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at t ...
. The style was popular across Scotland and was applied to many relatively modest dwellings by architects such as William Burn
William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred t ...
(1789–1870), David Bryce
David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scottish architect.
Life
Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David Bryce (1763–1816) a grocer with a successful side interest in buildi ...
(1803–76),[L. Hull, ''Britain's Medieval Castles'' (London: Greenwood, 2006), , p. 154.] Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's backg ...
(1787–1879), Edward Calvert (c. 1847–1914) and Robert Stodart Lorimer
Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE (4 November 1864 – 13 September 1929) was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothi ...
(1864–1929) and in urban contexts, including the building of Cockburn Street
Cockburn Street is a picturesque street in Edinburgh's Old Town, created as a serpentine link from the Royal Mile#High Street, High Street to Waverley Station in 1856. It is named after the then recently-deceased Scottish lawyer, judge and lit ...
in Edinburgh (from the 1850s) as well as the National Wallace Monument
The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) is a 67 metre tower on the shoulder of the Abbey Craig, a hilltop overlooking Stirling in Scotland. It commemorates Sir William Wallace, a 13th- and 14th-century Scottish hero ...
at Stirling (1859–69).[M. Glendinning, R. MacInnes and A. MacKechnie, ''A History of Scottish Architecture: from the Renaissance to the Present Day'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002), , pp. 276–85.] The rebuilding of Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen.
The estate and its original castle were bought ...
as a baronial palace and its adoption as a royal retreat from 1855–58 confirmed the popularity of the style. Scots Baronial architects frequently "improved" existing castles: Floors Castle
Floors Castle, in Roxburghshire, south-east Scotland, is the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. Despite its name it is an estate house rather than a fortress. It was built in the 1720s by the architect William Adam for Duke John, possibly incorporat ...
was transformed in 1838 by William Playfair
William Playfair (22 September 1759 – 11 February 1823), a Scottish engineer and political economist, served as a secret agent on behalf of Great Britain during its war with France. The founder of graphical methods of statistics, Playfai ...
who added grand turrets and cupolas.[T. W. West, ''Discovering Scottish Architecture'' (Botley: Osprey, 1985), , p. 116.] The style spread south and the architect Edward Blore
Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary.
Early career
He was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore.
Blore's backg ...
added a Scots Baronial touch to his work at Windsor.
Twentieth century to the present
The Baronial style peaked towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the building of large houses declined in importance in the twentieth century. It continued to influence the construction of some estate houses, including Skibo Castle
Skibo Castle (Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Sgìobail'') is located to the west of Dornoch in the Highland county of Sutherland, Scotland overlooking the Dornoch Firth. Although largely of the 19th century and early 20th century, when it was the hom ...
, which was rebuilt for industrialist Andrew Carnegie
Andrew Carnegie (, ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century and became one of the richest Americans i ...
(1899–1903) by Ross and Macbeth. There was a lull in building after the First World War, and social change undermined the construction of rural country houses. Isolated examples of "castles" include houses that combine modern and traditional elements, such as Basil Spence
Sir Basil Urwin Spence, (13 August 1907 – 19 November 1976) was a Scottish architect, most notably associated with Coventry Cathedral in England and the Beehive in New Zealand, but also responsible for numerous other buildings in the Moderni ...
's Broughton Place (1936) and Glenskirlie Castle, Stirlingshire (2007).[D. Mays, "Housing: 4 Country seat, c. 1600–Present", in M. Lynch, ed., ''Oxford Companion to Scottish History'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), , pp. 326–8.]
Restoration of castles began in the early twentieth century, with projects including the renovation of Duart Castle
Duart Castle, or ''Caisteal Dhubhairt'' in Scottish Gaelic, is a castle on the Isle of Mull, beside the Sound of Mull off the west coast of Scotland, within the council area of Argyll and Bute. The castle dates back to the 13th century and is ...
on Mull, and the complete reconstruction of Eilean Donan
Eilean Donan ( gd, Eilean Donnain) is a small tidal island situated at the confluence of three sea lochs (Loch Duich, Loch Long and Loch Alsh) in the western Highlands of Scotland, about from the village of Dornie. It is connected to the mainl ...
from a few fragments of masonry. The restoration movement grew after World War II with a fashion for renovating tower houses, including Oliver Hill (architect), Oliver Hill's restoration of Inchdrewer Castle, near Banff in Aberdeenshire, in 1965.[ The restoration of tower houses and smaller castles continues, with recent examples including Fenton Tower in Lothian and Ballone Castle near Portmahomack.][ Historic Scotland have launched a "Scottish Castle Initiative" aimed at encouraging private investment in the restoration of Scotland's castles, including a register of potential restoration candidates.][ Despite these efforts, a number of castles remain on Scotland's Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland, Buildings at Risk Register.
Most of Scotland's castles, whether ruined or occupied, remain in private ownership, though many are open to the public at least occasionally. During the twentieth century a number of older castles were transferred into the care of the state, and these are now the responsibility of ]Historic Scotland
Historic Scotland ( gd, Alba Aosmhor) was an executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage, and promoting its understanding and enjoyment. ...
, which was created as an agency in 1991. Historic Scotland cares for over 300 properties – all of which are publicly accessible – including around 65 castles.[S. Reid, ''Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans, 1450–1650'' (Botley: Osprey, 2006), , p. 58.] These include some of Scotland's most famous castles including Edinburgh and Stirling, as well as numerous tower houses and ruined castles. The National Trust for Scotland
The National Trust for Scotland for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, commonly known as the National Trust for Scotland ( gd, Urras Nàiseanta na h-Alba), is a Scottish conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organ ...
(founded 1931) cares for several post-Medieval castles and estate houses, including Culzean Castle, Culzean and Craigievar Castle, Craigievar that were still in occupation until the twentieth century. The Landmark Trust restores and operates historic buildings as holiday homes, including Saddell Castle, Castle of Park and Roslin Castle. Several other castles are in the hands of local government, for example Dudhope Castle in Dundee, and some are maintained by building preservation trusts and other charitable bodies, for example Sauchie Tower, Clackmannanshire.
See also
* Broch
* Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
* List of castles in Scotland
*
Notes
{{Scottish architecture
12th-century establishments in Scotland
Architecture in Scotland
Castles in Scotland,