Stirling Castle and Edinburgh

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Stirling Castle

I had the arm brace on for 4 hours and I woke up in the middle of the night with my hand totally numb - it really hurts! We had continental breakfast this morning and headed right out to Stirling Castle which is only about a half mile up the hill from the Golden Lion Hotel.

The castle is built on a high rocky hill and kind of reminds me a bit of the hill of the Acropolis in Athens. The first mention of the castle was between 1107 and 1115. It was a royal castle. We got there right when the castle opened and at first pretty much had the place to ourselves. While we waited the few minutes for the gates to open there was a beautiful rainbow visible just to the side of the castle. The view from the castle is just spectacular also! This place is huge! Stirling is where Mary Queen of Scots son James VI spent his childhood. The great hall is enormous and has a beautifully reconstructed ceiling.
We were disappointed that the Palace was closed for renovations. It rained lightly off and on while we were here, but not too bad.

Stirling Castle is near Stirling Bridge - the site of William Wallace’s victory over the English in 1297, and Bannockburn where Robert the Bruce defeated the same foe in the summer or 1314.

Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The Castle sits atop the Castle Hill, a volcanic crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding the crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times. The Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is managed by Historic Scotland. 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.

There have been several other sieges of Stirling Castle since the Wars of Scottish Independence, the last being in 1746, when Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", and his Jacobite force unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543.

From 1800 until 1964 the Castle was owned by the British Army and run as a barracks. Many alterations were made to the Great Hall, which became an accommodation block; the Chapel Royal, which became a lecture theatre and dining hall; the King's Old Building, which became an infirmary; and the Royal Palace, which became the Officer's Mess. Efforts to restore all these buildings to their original state are still ongoing. A number of new buildings were also constructed, including the prison and powder magazine, at the Nether Bailey, in 1810. Stirling Castle remains the headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, although the regiment is no longer garrisoned there. The regimental museum is also located within the castle. From: Wikipedia's Stirling Castle page

Linlithgow Palace

We drove on to Linlithgow Palace from Stirling to see the castle ruins. The ruins are set in a park beside a loch. All of the Stewart kings lived at the palace. Numerous renovations to the palace’s grand facades and the chambers were carried out as each sought to create the ideal modern palace. The palace is the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots.

The name Linlithgow means ‘the loch in the damp hollow’. The current palace was built after a fire in 1424 swept through the town reducing the old palace and church to ashes. This palace seemed to go on endlessly! Lots and lots of rooms to explore - you can go up all of the towers in all four corners and only the north range was missing a floor that kept you from walking all the way around all four sides. This is such a very cool ruin that we enjoyed tremendously. It got super windy while we were here too and I had trouble getting a decent exterior shot of the palace.

Mom waited in the car while I explored St. Michael’s Parish Church which is right next to the Palace. The church was founded in 1292. The church had beautiful stained glass windows mostly Victorian. There is also a fairly new stained glass window which was installed in 1992 to mark the 750th anniversary of St. Michaels.

The magnificent, roofless remains of Linlithgow Palace occupy the top of a slight hill between the centre of Linlithgow and Linlithgow Loch. Immediately to its south is St Michael's Parish Church, with whose history its own is closely entwined. There was probably a royal manor house on this site in the 1100s, but the earliest clear reference comes with the arrival of Edward I of England in 1301. He took an existing manor and built around it a large earth and wood fortress, enclosing St Michael's Church, which became a storehouse. Linlithgow remained in English hands for 13 years, and was used as a residence by Edward II in October 1310. After their defeat at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 the English abandoned the fortress.

The Scots removed the English fortress and repaired the manor, which saw occasional use by both David II and Robert III. But in 1424 a major fire destroyed both the town of Linlithgow and the manor house.
This triggered a programme of building by James I from 1425 which was continued by his grandson James III, and later by James IV, V and VI. Over the following hundred years this produced much of the palace whose remains are visible today, though rebuilding and alteration continued until the completion of the replacement north range in 1624. James V was born at Linlithgow Palace on 10 April 1512. He was responsible for closing the old main entrance and replacing it with one in the south range, facing the town of Linlithgow. He also built the outer gate to the south of St Michael's Church. James died on 14 December 1542, six days after his daughter Mary had been born at Linlithgow Palace.

Mary Queen of Scots had little impact on Linlithgow during her reign, and by the time James VI succeeded to the throne on her abdication, Linlithgow was said to be in a state of disrepair. Things got so bad that on 6 September 1607 the north range of the palace simply collapsed. It was rebuilt between 1618 and 1624 and was used during the winter of 1650-1 as a residence by Oliver Cromwell.
Linlithgow Palace seems to have continued in use, and was last visited by the Stuart family when Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed here in 1745. In January 1746 it was used by Government troops under the Duke of Cumberland who were pursuing Bonnie Prince Charlie north towards their eventual meeting at Culloden. When the troops departed on 1 February 1746 they left the palace ablaze.

The palace you see today is much as it was left by Cumberland's troops in 1746. The ground floor and first floor of the building are largely accessible, together with some basement areas. And in the corner towers it is possible to access some of the upper parts of the palace. But for the most part the floors and roofs have all gone above first floor level. What you are left with are a series of remarkably tall hollow shells surrounding the central courtyard. Also on view is the recently-restored fountain in the palace courtyard. This remarkable structure was originally commissioned by James V in 1537. Water and stone form an inevitable recipe for erosion, and the statue needed constant attention over the centuries. In the 1930s it had to be dismantled and rebuilt and in 2000 it was removed altogether for a total restoration. The fountain that was unveiled on 10 August 2005 is a magnificent testament to the stonemason's art, with about two-thirds of the original having to be replaced. To help preserve it for the future, the fountain now only operates at weekends in July and August. Undiscovered Scotland's Linlithgow Palace page]

Blackness Castle

Not far from the palace is Blackness Castle which was built in the 15th century on the south side of the Firth of Forth. The castle was built by the Crichtons. This castle is not beautiful at all, but looks very sturdy and was used as a state prison up until 1707. We didn’t spend much time here; there really wasn’t much to see. The prison tower is compact and the south tower is closed for renovations. I walked around the castle walls and climbed the tower and basically that was it.

Blackness Castle looks across the River Forth to the naval dockyards of Rosyth, and along it to the Forth rail and road bridges. The castle is first mentioned in 1449, although there had been a port at nearby Blackness serving the royal burgh of Linlithgow since the thirteenth century.
Today's visitor approaches through the little village of Blackness and along a narrow road leading to the small car park within the grounds set out to the south of the castle itself. Blackness Castle forms one side of a grassy area surrounded by buildings. Most of these date from fairly recent times. The south range housing the Historic Scotland shop was built as a barracks in the 1870s, while the more ornate west block served as the officers quarters from the same era. The castle came into royal hands in 1453 when the surrounding lands were annexed by King James II. It spent much of the next century serving as a royal prison housing the more prestigious of the King's various enemies.

Much of what you see today dates back to a major reconstruction between 1537 and 1543 under King James V. This transformed Blackness Castle into one of strongest artillery fortifications of its age. This is most obvious in the labyrinthine entrance via the west spur of the south tower, which includes a caponier designed to deal severely with those unwanted visitors who succeeded in getting through the outer gate. This passage within the thickness of the wall provides loopholes pointing back into the courtyard between the outer and inner entrances.

But the most formidable aspect of Blackness Castle's 16th century defences are to be found in the South Tower, where the south facing walls were strengthened to produce a wall 5.5 metres thick. These are pierced in several places at ground level to allow artillery to fire to the south and south east.
These defences served the castle well until Oliver Cromwell's Scottish campaign in 1650 (see our Historical Timeline). By now artillery was more powerful and had much longer range, and Cromwell had the advantage of attacking from both land and sea. The castle eventually surrendered, though not before being badly damaged. It was repaired and further altered in 1660.

Blackness Castle's later history echoed its earlier role as a prison when it helped house the large number of French taken prisoner during the wars of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In 1870 it became the army's central ammunition depot in Scotland. It was at this time that the buildings around the grassy courtyard to the south of the castle were built, together with the pier. Meanwhile, the whole of the open area of the castle was covered with an iron and concrete roof.

1912 the army left Blackness Castle, only to return during the first world war before departing for good in 1918. The castle was designated as an ancient monument, and between 1926 and 1935 a major programme of work undid many of the changes since 1870, returning the castle to a representation of something more medieval. Having made your way through the entrance complex, you find yourself in a remarkable courtyard, formed largely of natural rock still extremely uneven after 600 years of constant wear. Equally remarkable is the shape of the castle itself, looking like a ship pointing out into the River Forth. As a result, the South Tower is also known as the Stern Tower; while the North Tower, at the more pointy end of the castle, is also known as the Stem Tower. This shape can be well appreciated from the North Tower as you look along the wall walks extending either side of the castle and past the Central or Prison Tower. While you are in the North Tower, spare a though for those who annoyed the prison guards enough to be cast into the pit below it: accessed via a hatch in the floor of the lower level of the tower. Its only benefit was running water: twice a day at high tide.

The best views of the River Forth and the surrounding landscape can be had from the roof of the Central Tower. This is the highest point in the castle and an excellent place to catch the sun - or the wind - as you admire the illusion of the apparently conjoined structures of the rail and road bridges. From: Undiscovered Scotland's Blackness Castle page[/url

Edinburgh

Blackness is just outside of Edinburgh proper and it was only about 1:30 so we decided to head into Edinburgh to the hotel. The GPS had trouble with all of the road construction and detours in Edinburgh, but eventually we found the hotel. However there’s no parking at the hotel or on the nearby streets. Mom ran in and got a luggage cart while I ‘live’ parked in front. She got directions to the hotels recommended car park which was not close to the hotel at all! We unloaded the luggage and drove down to the car park, and then we had to walk back up about 6 blocks up a steep hill to the hotel. Mom had to stop and rest a couple of times.

We got checked in to the Ibis City Centre Hotel and I know I had previously explained to mom that the Ibis is a budget chain with very basic accommodations, but mom still seemed a bit surprised at the size of the room. But the Ibis is right off the Royal Mile which is where a lot of the attractions are concentrated here in Edinburgh. Plus the price was really reasonable; about a third the cost of other hotels in the same area.

Hard Rock Cafe

I was just famished and mom was tired, but I finally talked her into going to the Hard Rock Café for a late lunch (it was now about 3:30) but only if we could take a cab - whatever - I would have preferred to walk. We both got burgers (£12.50 each!!) and they were absolutely delicious! Our server said that’s because they were Scottish Angus beef. We also did some souvenir shopping there too. Then we caught a cab at the taxi stand right out front to go back to the Ibis.

When we got back to the hotel I used the internet in the hotel lobby for 20 minutes for £2. I cleared out all my junky e-mail at least! Then I went out to look around a few of the close by shops while mom rested. I also relaxed for a bit when I got back and the plan was to go to an Italian restaurant later on, but neither of us was hungry by 8pm, so we just had a snack at the Ibis - jacket potato for me and soup for mom.

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Photos

Golden Lion Hotel
Golden Lion Hotel in Stirling

Stirling Castle 1
Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle 2
Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle View
Stirling Castle view

Blackness Castle
Blackness Castle

Blackness Castle 2
Blackness Castle