On visiting Scottish Castles

Crest of Clansfolk of Clan MacKay

[Marble Blue Line]

In response to,

} To those of you who've been to Scotland.......what castles do you
} recommend seeing? What part of Scotland are they in, etc.

Try to visit :

Stirling Castle

( prime historical importance ....
also recent scene of Hollywood bash
for the cast of their recent bit
of fiction, supposedly about Wallace. )

Castle Gloom

(also called Castle Campbell) at Dollar --
Mainly for its magnificent setting and
for the approach walk through Dollar Glen.

Note (Aug 1999) : unfortunately the most interesting part of the path through the glen has now been closed for safety reasons (presumably dictated by the insurers of the National Trust for Scotland ..... very sad.

Tiorrm Castle

in Moidart.
About the most romantically set ruinous castle in Scotland.
Try to get there at high tide and wade across to it.

Eilean Donan

Occurs in so many books and Calendars,
it is required of tourists to pay a call.

Edinburgh Castle

-- I suppose ... but only if you ask them
precisely where they have hidden the bit of Nova Scotia
which was clearly marked out there until about 1950,
but which was replaced by a wall plaque
with vague wording as to the location
of this bit of the New World within the old ...

Really Ancient Castles ( probably )

Pictish Brochs

-- the best at Mousa or Clickhinnan in Shetland
but a few good examples in Sutherland and Caithness
and in Gelnelg and on Skye.
One point of great interest about the brochs:-
They seem to have been built from the same kit
bought from the same (iron age) building supply store.

Modern Domestic "Castles"

The Bulloch Castle

Isle of Rhum
( early 20th century )

Carbisdale Castle

Culrain, near Bonar Bridge
(late Victorian - now a youth hostel)

Dunrobin Castle

Golspie, Sutherland
Victorian "Bavarian" fairytale concoction.
Seat of the Duke, who cleared out many tenants
from Sutherland, and replaced them with sheep.
Brush the dust of it from your shoes as you leave.