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At first glance, Strancally Castle looks like something from a romantic Irish story. Turrets rise above a wooded estate beside the River Blackwater in County Waterford, surrounded by a landscape that seems far removed from violence or intrigue. But the name Strancally Castle is connected with a much older fortress—and a story so dark that an…
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Eilean Donan looks like a medieval Scottish castle untouched by time. Rising from a tiny island where three sea lochs meet in the western Highlands, with mountains behind it and a stone bridge connecting it to the mainland, it seems almost too perfect. There is just one problem with that picture: much of the castle we…
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Everyone knows Loch Ness for its monster. But on its shore stand the ruins of something very real—a castle fought over for centuries by English kings, Scottish warriors and powerful Highland clans. Urquhart Castle has watched over Loch Ness for hundreds of years. Edward I of England captured it, Robert the Bruce took it back,…
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Imagine being trapped inside a castle on a cliff above the North Sea. An enemy army is closing in. Heavy artillery is on its way. And hidden somewhere behind your walls are three objects that must not be captured: the Crown, Sword and Sceptre of Scotland. This was the situation at Dunnottar Castle in the early…
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There are castles that witnessed history, and there are castles around which history seems to have turned. Stirling Castle belongs to the second kind. Standing high on a rocky crag above the River Forth, the fortress guarded one of the most important routes through medieval Scotland. For centuries, whoever controlled Stirling controlled a gateway between…
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Edinburgh Castle seems to have been designed by nature to be almost impossible to conquer. It rises above the Scottish capital on Castle Rock, an ancient volcanic formation whose steep sides provided natural protection long before medieval builders added walls, towers and gates. Human occupation of the rock stretches back at least to the Iron…