Tag: castles
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Elcho
Elcho Castle is well-preserved castle of the sixteenth century, just 150 meters from the south bank of the River Tay in Easter Elcho near Rhynd. It is four miles south-east of Perth and Kinross. The Z-plan tower house was designed as a castle that was both comfortable and easily defended.
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Balvaird
Balvaird Castle stands on a hilltop on a wild and lonely spot in the Ochil Hills. It is about three miles from Glenfarg, not far from Perth in Perthshire, Scotland. A remnant of feudal times it commands an excellent view over the Eden valley and the Lomonds.
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Balfour
Balfour Castle is aptly known as a Calendar House. It has seven turrets, twelve exterior doors, 52 rooms, and 365 panes of glass! Balfour Castle is an imposing structure on the southwest end of Shapinsay Island of Orkney. It stands between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea surrounded by woods, close to the shore.
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Earls Palace Kirkwall
Robert Stewart, the first Earl of Orkney and his son Patrick go down in history as the most tyrannical Earls of Scotland. The two Earl’s Palaces in Birsay and Kirkwall were built by them with slave labor on land partially acquired by force.
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Kirkwall
Kirkwall Castle does not exist; but in the fourteenth century it did stand at the present junction between Albert Street, Castle Street and Broad Street. All one can see today is a commemorative plaque on a building on Castle Street in the lovely city of Kirkland on Orkney, Scotland. In the 13th century the islands were ruled by Norse kings and Henry Sinclair, (or St. Clair) a well known ...
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Urquhart
There is no better place to wait in hope of catching a glimpse of the Loch Ness Monster, or Nessie, than the ruins of Urquhart Castle. Built on an uneven rocky promontory on the edge of Loch Ness, the castle stood just two miles outside Drumnadrochit in the north of Scotland. Its strategic location guarded the major route to the Highlands.
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Tioram
Described by Winston Churchill as one of the most beautiful places he knew, Castle Tioram, pronounced 'Cheerum' is located on a rocky tidal island, Eilean Tioram in Loch Moidart in the Western Highlands on the west coast of Scotland. Tioram is the Gaelic word for dry and the island is only accessible at low tide across a sandy spit. It stands where the waters of Loch Moidart and the river ...
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Skibo
Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands is one of the most exclusive hotel resorts in Scotland and is home to the prestigious Carnegie Club. It was originally a 13th century stone tower house with a courtyard, built as a residence fortress of Gilbert de Moravia, Bishop of Caithness, and Skibo Castle continued as a residence for Bishops till 1545. Its Gaelic name is Schytherbolle, which means ...
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Inverness
Shakespeare’s tragedy ‘Macbeth’ was supposedly based in the earlier 11th century Inverness Castle, the location of Duncan’s murder. The present Inverness Castle may not be witness to anything so dramatic, but as the premises of the Sheriff’s Court it may not be without its own tales of crime and passion.