The weather was so bad we didn’t bother going into Aberdeen, but we couldn’t resist seeing Dunnottar Castle, which must have the most dramatic location of any Scottish Castle.
We were up twice for sunrise, but didn’t actually see the sun.
Then, on to Stirling. We will have to come back another time if we want to see it like this!
This is what we got! However, we really enjoyed our visit. The castle is complete, not a ruin, and has been in continuous use since it was built in the 14th century, though with many alterations and additions.
Our tour guide in the Great Hall. Historic Scotland, a government department, has recently spent £12,000,000 refurbishing the castle, so it now looks as it did when Mary Queen of Scots was there.
The chapel was built by James 6 of Scotland, later James1 of England, and son of Mary Queen of Scots, to replace an existing chapel because he felt it wasn’t grand enough for the christening of his son Henry. It was built in 6 months at a cost of £100,000, an enormous sum in those days. Colin has always said the Scots were well rid of the Stuarts! Henry died age 11, so his brother became heir, and went on to become Charles 1 of England. I hadn’t realised that Charles1 was the grandson of Mary Queen of Scots. They were both beheaded, but in very different circumstances.
Never knew that!
The nice thing is that because everything here is a reproduction, it’s not fenced off, and you can walk around and touch things.
This woman is dressed as one of Mary’s ladies in waiting, and is not a waxwork!
That skinny woman by the fire is me!
An enthusiastic photographer.
I managed this without lying down!
Look at the ropes which support the mattress. I haven’t seen this type of bed stripped down before. The nitty gritty of how things were done in those days is always, I think, more interesting than the grandeur.
Likewise, I’ve always been more interested in the kitchens than the staterooms, thinking, that that is where I would have been…
But maybe not!
Ye olde quiche recipe.
The castle also holds the museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. This is a model of them at the Battle of Balaclava in 1854, where two thinly spread lines of Highlanders held off a charge by Russian Cavalry, earning them the nickname of the Thin Red Line, which you may have heard of. Flashman was there, of course, if you have read any Flashman:-) I don’t know if you can see, but in those days they went into battle in kilts.
Battledress as worn by the Thin Red Line. He is wearing a badger head sporran, which you open by lifting the badger’s head.
Who’d be Royal?
A surgeon’s kit, as used in the Crimean War. They were just starting to use anaesthetics at that time.
Nice story!
Just for contrast, what they wear nowadays!
So we really enjoyed our visit, we were there three hours, and would have been longer if the weather weren’t so bad. We are leaving Stirling tomorrow for Durham, where we have booked a couple of nights. The site is full after that – there are a surprising number of people still out about in their caravans, the further south we come, the busier it is.
If the weather does not improve, we will go back to Yorkshire after that.