September 17, 2013: Glamis Castle and Aberdeen, Scotland
	September 15, 2013: Sightseeing in Edinburgh (Day 2)
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Today we are going to pick up the van we are going to use for the rest of our time in Scotland and England, and as soon as we do that, we are going to head to Stirling, Scotland, to visit the town, see Stirling Castle and visit the Wallace Monument.

Driving to Stirling, Scotland

We had to pick up our van at the airport, so we called for two taxis to get us all there; five passengers is the limit for taxicabs in the UK, apparently. Ron, Prudence, Nancy and I took one cab, while Fred, Guy and Karl headed off in another.

At the airport, we had to wait for the rental car shuttle to take us out to the lot, but once it arrived, getting the van was no problem, and a half hour later we were off for Stirling, which is northwest of Edinburgh.

The scenery along the was was unremarkable; the countryside was green rolling hills with lots of farms and lots of sheep. The motorway was much like an American interstate (save for our being on the wrong side of the highway) until we found the exit for Stirling. When we got off there, we took a secondary road through the countryside heading into the city. As we drove around the south side of the city, we got our first views of Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument.

Although we didn't know it at the time, our route along the south edge of the city took us by the remains of a huge royal garden, an area that can only be appreciated by viewing it from high up in the Castle.

At right is an aerial view of the center of the town of Stirling. Our route brought us in from the left, and we drove along that road a bit out of the view to the south before we found a street that took us back north into town.

We followed the signs for Stirling Castle, and this brought us to a street where we headed back northwest. When we got close to the Castle, we looked for a parking space on the street (not realizing at the time that there was plenty of parking right at the Castle that would have been a bit cheaper and much more convenient than the space we found.

On this aerial view, I have marked the location of three locations we'd visit- the Church of the Holy Rude (our first stop), Stirling Castle (our second stop and where we spent the majority of our time) and the spot downtown where we stopped to have lunch, walking down there from the Castle.

Our first stop was the church (which we hadn't actually known was there).

The Church of the Holy Rude

We walked up the street from where we'd parked the car (you can look back down the street and see our van last in the last parking space here), crossed a small street, and found ourselves at the entrance to the Church of the Holy Rude. This church, we learned, is the second oldest building in Stirling, Scotland, after Stirling Castle. The church was founded in 1129 during the reign of David I (1124 - 1153) as the parish church of Stirling.

A fire in the late 13th century led to the complete reconstruction of the church; nothing of the early structure remains. Construction on the new nave was underway by 1414, and based on the evidence of carved heraldry in the vault of the nave was completed between 1440 and 1480. Work on the chancel did not commence until 1507 and completed around 1530 which was when the west tower was also extended to its current height.

Below are clickable thumbnails for three additional pictures of the outside of the church:

With its original oak roof beams, this is one of Scotland's finest medieval churches. Tradition says that King James IV may have helped masons build the later eastern end during the early 16th century. Bullet marks on the tower may date from a siege of the castle by Cromwell's troops in 1651.

Like many of the other churches we visited on our trip to England, there were a number of crypts and burial spots in the walls in in the floor. Most of them had markers like this one (which reminded me of the PBS series "Blackadder"). The nave also had a small pipe organ.

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I made a pretty good movie inside the church, looking all around at all its interior features. You can watch it with the player at left.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

We all took a number of pictures inside the church, whose layout inside was basically a long nave with two side aisles. I have put the best of these pictures into a short slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

King James VI was crowned King of Scots on 29 July 1567 in the church; Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, performed the ceremony and John Knox preached a sermon. For the first time, the rites were Protestant and not, as at James' baptism, Roman Catholic; "the whole ceremony was made and done" in the Scottish tongue and not Latin. The Church of the Holy Rude, Gloucester Abbey (now Cathedral) and Westminster Abbey the only churches in Britain still in use to this day that have been the sites of coronations.

Standing in the nave, we could look up and see the most unusual feature of the church- the Angel Window. It is a small, leaf-shaped window featuring an angel. This window was designed by James Collie. It was designed to be an encouragement for us to be open to God's messengers and to see the angel in every person and every situation.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

The other stained glass windows in the church were quite beautiful, and we each took quite a few pictures of them, so I have put the best of them into a short slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

The inside of the church was quite interesting; we were to see the interiors of many beautiful churches and cathedrals on our trip. But Stirling Castle was beckoning to us, so we left the church building and walked around the back of the church by the large graveyard to another exit back to the street. There are some clickable thumbnails below for some other pictures taken around the outside of the Church of the Holy Rude:

There was a large graveyard surrounding the church and some of the adjacent properties, and we'll look at it in a moment. But for now, we left the church grounds and headed up the hill.

Just up the street from the Church of the Holy Rude is a building identified by the plaque on the front as Cowane's Hospital. This building was constructed between 1637 and 1649 as an almshouse for poor members of the merchant guild. It was endowed by John Cowane, a Stirling merchant, who had been the town's Commissioner to the Scots parliament. As midnight strikes at New Year the statue of Cowane- known as Auld Staney Breeks- comes down to dance in the courtyard!

At the top of the street, we found a stairway that led up beside another building; that building had a restaurant and a small inn. The stairway led up to the level of the large parking lot for Stirling Castle (and we saw that we could have driven up here to park) and an overlook from which we could see all of the extensive graveyard that lay behind the church and south of the castle. Here is a panoramic view that I made from four different pictures:

And below are clickable thumbnails for some of the other pictures we took earlier in the graveyard and from this overlook:

From here, we headed over to the entrance to Stirling Castle.

Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, and is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1890s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times. Most of the principal buildings of the castle date from the 15th and 16th centuries. A few structures from the 14th century remain, while the outer defenses fronting the town date from the early 18th. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542. There have been at least eight sieges of the Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle.

Stirling Castle has been central to Scottish history. The first record of Stirling Castle indicates that King Alexander I dedicated a chapel here (c. 1110), during the reign of his successor David I it became an administration center. Beginning in 1174, Stirling Castle was like a ping-pong ball, bouncing between the control of the English and the Scots; it was surrendered to the English by William I in that year, but returned by Richard I in 1189. It remained under Scottish control until the death of Alexander III in 1286, which triggered a succession crisis, with Edward I of England invited to arbitrate. Edward took control of Stirling in 1291, and eventually ruled in favor of John Balliol, hoping he would be a "puppet" ruler. He was not, and so in 1296, Edward invaded Scotland, beginning the Wars of Scottish Independence, which would last for the next 60 years. They occupied the castle, but were dislodged the following year after William Wallace's victory at the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The castle changed hands again the next year following the English victory at Falkirk. Edward strengthened the castle, but it was besieged in 1299 by Robert Bruce and returned to Scottish control. Edward's army arrived again in 1304, besieged Stirling Castle, and took it back. Eight years later, Edward Bruce, the king's brother, laid siege to Stirling, and took nominal control, challenged in 1314 by Edward II. Edward's defeat at Bannockburn, within sight of the castle walls, seemingly put the Scots in final control. But by 1336, during the second War of Scottish Independence, the English were back in control, control they lost again to Robert Stewart in 1342.

Under the early Stewart kings Robert II (Robert Stewart, reigned 1371–1390) and Robert III (reigned 1390–1406), the earliest surviving parts of the castle- the north and south gates- were built. Fifty years of royal intrigue led to the reign of James III (1460–1488) who was born in the castle and who later undertook works to the gardens and the chapel royal. Almost all the present buildings in the castle were constructed between 1490 and 1600, when Stirling was developed as a principal royal centre by the Stewart kings James IV, James V and James VI. The architecture of these new buildings shows an eclectic mix of English, French and German influences, reflecting the international ambitions of the Stewart dynasty.

James IV (reigned 1488–1513) built the King's Old Building, the Great Hall, and the Forework (of which little now remains). He also renovated the Royal Chapel, one of two churches within the castle at this time. James V (reigned 1513–1542) continued and expanded his father's building programme, creating the centrepiece of the castle, the Royal Palace, built under the direction of Sir James Hamilton of Finnart and masons brought from France. James V died young; his widow, Mary of Guise, was left to complete it. In the 1550s, during the Regency of Mary of Guise for Mary, Queen of Scots, artillery fortifications were added to the south approach of the castle, and these form the basis of the present Outer Defenses.

Queen Mary's son, James VI, was baptized in Stirling Castle and crowned in the nearby Church of the Holy Rude. More years of intrigue and conflict followed, during which James' first child, Henry, was born in the castle in 1594, and the present Chapel Royal was constructed for his baptism. Upon the Union of the Crowns in 1603, James VI succeeded as King of England and the royal family left for London. With the King gone, Stirling's role as a royal residence declined, and it became principally a military centre. Following the execution of Charles I, the Scots crowned his son Charles II, and he became the last reigning monarch to stay at Stirling. He was eventually defeated by the forces of Oliver Cromwell.

After The Restoration of Charles II, the castle's military role became increasingly important, continuing through the uprisings and conflicts of the Jacobite Rebellion in the 1750s. From 1800 until 1964 the Castle was run as a barracks and recruiting depot for the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. The Great Hallbecame an accommodation block; the Chapel Royal became a lecture theatre and dining hall; the King's Old Building became an infirmary; and the Royal Palace became the Officer's Mess. Since 1964, when the military use ended, the buildings have been undergoing a restoration, a program completed in 2011. Stirling Castle remains the headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, although the regiment is no longer garrisoned there, and their museum is located adjacent to the Royal Palace.

Our tour through Stirling Castle would take us to all the major areas and buildings (although there were a couple that I visited towards the end that the others in the group did not.

At left is a diagram of Stirling Castle, taken from the Castle's own website, which I have enlarged and marked with the major features of the Castle complex. Most of the time we took to visit Stirling Castle was spent in the four buildings surrounding the Inner Close (courtyard)- the Royal Palace, the King's Old Building (Regimental Museum), the Royal Chapel and the Great Hall, and we went directly to these buildings first. So we'll look at their pictures first, each in its own section below.

While the other folks were in the museum, I went out to walk along the castle walls- the Wall Walk- and we'll look at those pictures next. After that, we visited the Queen Anne Garden, from which we could see the King's Knot Garden below, and we also went into the Castle Exhibition, and so we'll next look at the pictures taken in the Queen Anne garden and the exhibition.

Finally, as the rest of the group was getting ready to head out, I went back in to the Outer Close where I could look at the gun batteries, climb up on the Forework and have a look at the Outer Defenses and even descend into some of the underground rooms and lookout posts. The last few sections will cover those areas.

Usually, when I get site diagrams from the Internet, they are oriented so north is at the top, but in this case, that wasn't the case, and so some of my narrative may be a bit confusing, as the directions won't match. At right is an actual aerial view of Stirling Castle, and north is at the top of the image. You can see that the diagram has been turned 90° clockwise. Keep that in mind as we tour the castle buildings; any directional indications I give will be the actual ones, not those that match the diagram of the castle area.

As we tour the Castle, you can return to the diagram or aerial view above to see where we are, but I will also provide you with little miniature versions of the diagram for each of the sections of our walk- the Inner Close and four main buildings, the Wall Walk, the Outer Close and the Queen Anne Garden.

For example, at left is a small version of the castle diagram that illustrates the first part of our route. We bought our tickets at the entrance gate, came in to the little plaza adjacent to the Queen Anne Garden, went up through the Forework, across the Outer Close and then between the Palace and the Great Hall into the middle of the four buildings that surround the Inner Close. We can now tour those four buildings. A bit further down the page, you'll be able to follow us on the other short paths we followed through the Castle complex.

Before we tour the four main buildings off the Inner Close, you might want to see them in relation to each other. I stood with my back to the King's Old Building, and took a series of pictures of the close before me. In the resulting panorama, you can see a bit of the King's Old Building at the left and then, working around from left to right, the Royal Chapel, the Great Hall and the Royal Palace:

The Royal Palace

The Royal Palace is on the south(west) side of the Inner Close. The first Renaissance palace in the British Isles, it was the work of King James V. With its combination of Renaissance architecture, and exuberant late-gothic detail, it is one of the most architecturally impressive buildings in Scotland, covered with unique carved stonework. It was begun in the 1530s, and was largely complete by the time of James' death in 1542. The builder was Sir James Hamilton, who also financed part of the work, in return for land and favors from the king. Further work was carried out during the regency of Mary of Guise, and the upper floor was converted to provide an apartment for the castle governor in the 18th century.

The architecture is French-inspired, but the decoration is German in inspiration. The statues include a line of soldiers on the south parapet, and a series of full‑size figures around the principal floor. These principal figures include a portrait of James V, the Devil, St Michael, and representations of Venus and several planetary deities; you can see one of those figures here. Their arrangement on the north, east and south faces of the Palace has been interpreted in relation to the quarters of the heavens. The west façade is undecorated and incomplete.

Below are clickable thumbnails for some other views of the outside of the Royal Palace:

A $20 million project to recreate the grandeur of the Royal Palace resulted in its re-opening to the public in 2011. The work, which has taken a decade of research and craftsmanship, restored six royal apartments to how they would have looked in the 1540s, when this was the childhood home of Mary Queen of Scots. There is also an ongoing restoration of the seven hand-woven tapestries that originally graced the apartments.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) In the Queen's Bedroom

Internally, the Palace has two apartments, one each for the king and queen. Each has a hall, where the royal personage could receive visitors or host gatherings, presence chamber, that the personage would use for official duties, and bedchamber, with various small rooms known as closets. I made a movie in the Queen's bedchamber, for there was a docent there who gave an interesting talk about what life was like for her in the castle. Fred thought the setting a nice one for a picture of the docent and I, so I hammed it up a bit.

The Renaissance decoration continued inside, although little has survived the building's military use, excepting the carved stone fireplaces. Each of the different fireplaces, and we saw four or five of them, had a different colorful carving above it, although it didn't look as if the works were extremely old. You can see two other fireplaces, each with a different carved work above it here and here.

The ceiling of the King’s Presence Chamber was originally decorated with a series of carved oak portrait roundels known as the Stirling Heads, described as "among the finest examples of Scottish Renaissance wood-carving now extant." The carvings were taken down following a ceiling collapse in 1777. During the restoration that ended in 2011, painted replicas of these roundels were reinstalled in the presence chamber ceiling. Of an estimated 56 original heads, 38 survive.

Some are now preserved in the castle museum (there are clickable thumbnails at left for some pictures we took of the roundels in the museum within the Royal Palace), and three more are in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh. Some of the portraits are believed to be of kings, queens, or courtiers, and others are thought to show classical or Biblical figures.

Save for the Queen's bedchamber, the rooms in the Royal Palace were sparsely furnished (or not furnished at all). An explanatory sign indicated that the original furnishings have long since been lost or are in museums, and that the restoration trust is in the process of creating period-authentic replicas for the rooms. In some of the other rooms (each of which had a decorated fireplace) we found an opportunity to take some additional pictures, and there are clickable thumbnails for them below:

Partway through the tour of the Royal Palace, I saw a hall that led to the outside and, although it wasn't on the tour path, I went to check it out anyway. The hall led to a balcony at the west end of the building; this balcony offered expansive views to the north, west and south.

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While I was out on that balcony, I made a movie looking down from the castle to the countryside below, and I was impressed with what a defensible position it was. It was unusual in that it was so isolated, with the only sloping side being the one leading down into the town of Stirling. You can use the player at left to watch my movie.

I returned to the tour path, and it eventually led us out to the south side of the palace, down some outside stairs to another balcony on the building's south side, overlooking the Queen Anne Garden. From here were nice views of the garden, the Forework, the outer defenses and of Stirling, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of these views:

The stairs at the east end of the balcony took us through the last few rooms of the palace, and then back out to the Inner Close.

The King's Old Building (Regimental Museum)

The west boundary of the Inner Close is the King's Old Building, and this building is the oldest of the four that surround the close.

We didn't take any direct pictures of the King's Old Building; the best one shows where it connects to the Royal Chapel, and two buildings are at the left and right, respectively, in the inset picture at left. This building was built in the late 1400s and was, by historical accounts, complete by around 1497.

It was begun as a new residential range by James IV, and originally comprised an L-shaped building. The principal rooms were on the first floor, over cellars, and included two chambers with wide open views to the west, although the interiors have been much altered. The projecting stair tower (seen in the picture at left) has an octagonal upper section, which was copied for a second, later stair tower on the same building.

In 1855, the north end of the building burned down, and was rebuilt in a Baronial style. At the south-west end of the range is a linking building, once used as kitchens, which is on a different alignment to both the King's Old Building and the adjacent Royal Palace. It has been suggested that this is an earlier 15th-century structure, dating from the reign of James I. Excavations within this building in 1998 revealed burials, suggesting that this may have been the site of a church or chapel.

The building now houses the Regimental Museum for the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders Regimental Museum, and a few of us spent some time wandering around its three floors, looking at the exhibits. There were old photographs (including one of members of the Regiment in India) and items of clothing and weapons carried by Regiment members- including this officer's uniform. There was also an actual item called the "91st Centerpiece." This ornate silver construction was purchased by the officers to commemorate the part taken by the Battalion in the South African War between 1899 and 1902. You can read more about this item on the display sign next to it here.

The Royal Chapel

Between the Regimental Museum and the Royal Chapel, I actually went out to do the Wall Walk, but we'll save that for later and take a look in the third of the four main buildings surrounding the Inner Close.

The collegiate chapel established by James IV in 1501 lay between the King's Old Building and the Great Hall, but was further south than the present building. This was the chapel in which Queen Mary was crowned in 1543. However, when James VI's first son, Prince Henry was born in 1594, it was decided to rebuild the chapel as a suitable venue for the royal christening.

The new building was erected within a year, north of the old site to improve access to the hall. There was some doubt if the chapel, which John Colville called the "great temple of Solomon," could be finished in time. The chapel, has Italianate arched windows, and is attributed to Royal Master Builder William Schaw. The interior was decorated by the painter Valentine Jenkin prior to the visit of Charles I in 1633. The chapel too was later modified for military use, housing a dining room. The wall paintings were rediscovered in the 1930s, and restoration began after the Second World War.

At the east end of the chapel is a simple altar in front of another set of tall windows, and the barrel vault ceiling is bordered by painted wall murals. There were also a number of interesting signs around the room, these signs detailing major elements in the history of the space, and you might want to read them. Their titles are below, and clicking on any title will bring up the sign for you to read:

We came out of the Royal Chapel and headed over to the last of the four buildings surrounding the Inner Close.

The Great Hall

On the east side of the Inner Close is the Great Hall, or Parliament Hall. The Hall was built by James IV following on from the completion of the King's Old Building in 1497, and was being plastered by 1503.

Today, the Hall adjoins the Royal Chapel, although there may have at one time been a passage between the two buildings. On its south end, there is also a buttress between the Hall and the Royal Palace (which was built subsequently). I could not find out about its original external appearance, but the Great Hall today stands out from the other castle structures because it is plastered on the outside, and the plaster contrasts with the stone of the other structures.

Described as "the grandest secular building erected in Scotland in the late Middle Ages", it represents the first example of Renaissance-influenced royal architecture in the country. It was worked on by a number of English craftsmen, and incorporates some English design ideas, being comparable to Edward IV's hall at Eltham Palace, built in the late 1470s. It includes Renaissance details, such as the intersecting tracery on the windows, within a conventional medieval plan. Inside are five fireplaces, and large side windows lighting the dais end, where the king (and his queen) would be seated. Its interior dimensions are 140 by 50 feet, making it the largest such hall in Scotland.

The original hammerbeam roof was removed in 1800, along with the decorative crenellated parapet, when the hall was subdivided to form barracks. Two floors and five cross-walls were inserted, and the windows were altered accordingly.

As early as 1893, calls were being made for the restoration of the Great Hall, but it was not until the army left in 1965 that the opportunity arose. It was agreed that a historically correct restoration could be achieved, and works began which were only completed in 1999. The hammerbeam roof and parapet were replaced, windows reinstated, and the outer walls were limewashed. Inside, the restoration relied on historical accounts to re-create the open interior space as well as intricate beamed ceiling.

The Great Hall was the place where subjects could get close to their monarch, while James IV built the more private apartments opposite- in the King's Old Building. His son, James V, erected the Royal Palace for greater luxury and privacy, and to complete the square, James VI built the Royal Chapel for the baptism of his own first-born son.

The Great Hall was the last of the four major structures surrounding the Inner Close, but there was lots more to see at Stirling Castle.

The Wall Walk

The next part of the castle that we toured is called "The Wall Walk," and it consists of a walk along the northern upper wall of the fortifications. To get to it, we went through a passageway between the King's Old Building and the Royal Chapel; it is the arched doorway nearest to you in the picture of the connected buildings here. This brought us through to an area called The Douglas Garden, on top of the castle rock. A 12th-century timber castle probably stood here, and it is likely that there were even earlier fortifications.

There is not much of a garden here now; there is just a small green space with some large trees and a small stone building at the northwest end of the triangular area. Why is it called "the Douglas Garden?" William Douglas, the 8th Earl of Douglas (1425-1452) was the last of a family line called the Black Douglases. Once powerful but now in decline, William restored their power, recovering numerous lordships and becoming an intimate of King James II. Although the Scots and the English were even now at odds, William desired to attend the Jubilee in Rome in 1450, and would have to pass through England. With James's help, the Earl and his party was issued with a Safe-conduct for three years, "to pass through England, to the Marches of Calais and elsewhere in the King of England's dominions." A further Safe-Conduct, this time expressly stating that the Earl could take a party of 100 and naming many of them, was issued (presumably while they were still travelling) in 1451. He had returned to Scotland by August 14, 1451 as he was the leading Scottish Conservator of the 3 year truce with England, concluded at Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

James II had raided the Douglas lands during the Earl's pilgrimage to Rome. Despite this, their relations seemed outwardly friendly. However, in early February 1452, a summons was brought to the Earl commanding him to attend the King at Stirling. There was abundant precedent for suspicion in a mandate of this nature, but, as if to allay it, the King's messenger also brought the Earl a safe-conduct given under the King's hand in council. When the Earl arrived, King James demanded the dissolution of a league into which Douglas had entered with the Earl of Crawford and others. Upon Douglas's refusal, the king murdered him by his own hand, stabbing him 26 times, and his body was thrown out of a window into the garden that once occupied this area. Here are Fred and Nancy standing on that very spot.

To do the walk along the wall, we crossed the garden to the southeast to a set of steps that led up onto the wall. Then we walked first north then southwest to some stairs that led down behind that stone building and back to the passageway we'd come through. I've added an aerial view here so you can see some of the same fortifications that will appear in the pictures we took along the wall.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

We took a number of pictures of the countryside and fortifications down below our perch on the wall. Some were taken looking southeast along the wall, some out to the north, and some, when we'd walked to where the wall met the King's Old Building, to the west. I have put the best of these pictures into a short slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

While I was on the wall, I took a series of five pictures to capture the wall to my right, the entire panorama in front of me and the wall to my left. This took five separate shots, and I have combined them into the panorama below:

When we were done on the north wall, we came down a small set of stairs, walked back past the north end of the King's Old Building and its outside staircase, and back through the passageway to the Inner Close.

The Outer Close, Forework and Outer Defenses

While everyone else went on to the Queen Anne Garden, I stopped to take a look at the fortifications that lay south of the four main buildings bordering the Inner Close.

Just inside the Forework is a courtyard known as the Outer Close. To the south-east are Georgian military buildings; the late 18th-century Main Guard House, and the early 19th-century Fort Major's House. The early North Gate, giving access to the Nether Bailey, contained the original castle kitchens, which were probably linked to the Great Hall. The Great Kitchen which is now visible was constructed later, against the east wall of the castle. However, in 1689 these rooms were infilled to provide gun emplacements.

Excavations in the 1920s ascertained the extent of the surviving rooms, and the vaults were reconstructed in 1929. The small building above the North Gate is traditionally said to have been a mint, known in Scots as the Cunzie Hoose or "coining house". From the southeast corner of the close, I was able to descend into some of these restored rooms. They were small and dark, as you can see here and here; the only light came from the two or three observation slits in some of the rooms.

Coming up from those rooms, I next took the set of stairs that led up to the top of the Forework.

The View from the Forework

The gatehouse providing entry from the outer defences to the castle proper was erected by King James IV, and was probably completed around 1506. It originally formed part of a Forework, extending as a curtain wall across the whole width of Castle Hill. The portion of that wall that attached to the Royal Palace has been restored, and you can see it here. At the centre is the gatehouse itself, which now stands to less than half its original height. The round towers at the outer corners rose to conical roofs, with battlements carried around the tops of the towers. These were flanked by more round towers, of which only traces now remain, and mirrored by further rounds at the rear of the gatehouse.

The overall design of the Forework shows French influence, and has parallels with the forework erected at Linlithgow Palace. Like the Linlithgow structure, the Forework was probably intended more for show, evoking the "age of chivalry", than for defence, as it would have offered little protection against contemporary artillery. The entrance was via a central passage, flanked by two separate pedestrian passages; you can see those passages here in a picture that Fred took when we first entered the complex. This triple arrangement was unusual in its time, and Classical triumphal arches have been suggested as an influence.

The gatehouse was dismantled gradually, and was consolidated in its present form in 1810. At each end of the crenellated curtain wall was a rectangular tower. The west tower, known as the Prince's Tower, probably after Henry, Prince of Scotland, survives to its full height, and is now attached to the later palace. At the east end, the Elphinstone Tower contained a kitchen and possibly an officer's lodging. It was cut down to form a gun battery, probably in the early 18th century when the Outer Defences were rebuilt.

Coming down from the top of the turreted Forework gate, I went underneath where I'd been standing, through the central passage and out into the outer defenses.

The Outer Defences comprise artillery fortifications, and were built in their present form in the 18th century, although some parts, including the French Spur at the east end, date back to the regency of Mary of Guise in the 1550s. The French Spur was originally an ear-shaped bastion known as an orillon, and contained gun emplacements which protected the main spur. This projecting spur was fronted by an earth ramp called a talus, and was entered via a drawbridge over a ditch. Excavations in the 1970s showed that much of the original stonework remains within the 18th-century defences.

The Outer Defenses

Following the attempted Jacobite invasion of 1708, improvements to the castle's defences were ordered. Two difference schemes were put forward, and in the end a compromise between them was built, and completed by 1714. The main front wall was extended outwards, to form an area called "Guardhouse Square." This had the effect of creating two defensive walls, both of which were fronted by ditches defended by covered firing galleries known as caponiers. One of the caponiers survives and is accessible from Guardhouse Square by a narrow staircase.

To the rear of the walls, chambers called casemates were built to strengthen the wall, and to provide gun emplacements. The French Spur was modified slightly to allow more cannons to be mounted. The buildings within Guardhouse Square date from the 19th century. Outside the castle is the early 19th-century Esplanade, used as a parade ground, and now as a car park and performance space. Below are clickable thumbnails for some additional pictures taken on and around the Outer Defenses:

After I'd looked around the Outer Defenses for a while, I went across the entry plaza and through the archway to the Queen Anne Garden.

The Queen Anne Garden (and the King's Knot and King's Park)

Just below the Royal Palace is the Queen Anne Garden; it is on the opposite side of the central entrance walkway from the Outer Defenses. It is bordered on the south by what were previously enclosed firing positions but which have been converted into a small museum dealing with the castle's history. On the west, there is a high wall with stairs and a walkway.

This pretty garden was an important feature of the royal castle. Here the king and queen could stroll with their courtiers, watch entertainments or play games such as archery and bowls. (This area is also known as the Bowling Green Garden.) There are records of trees, plants and seeds being purchased to plant here, and of cranes and peacocks strutting about.

The Queen Anne Garden

We climbed up on the wall, of course, to look out to the west to the hills beyond the Stirling Valley. The Queen Anne Garden was actually quite small (and there were not many actual plants and flowers here now), but in the valley below the castle are the grassy outlines of a much bigger formal garden. This is the King’s Knot, the knot itself being a raised eight-sided feature dating from the 1600s. It is likely that this area would have been organised as an elaborate formal garden with bright floral displays, attractive terraces and paved paths.

In the picture I took of these formal gardens, you can see that all that is left are the outlines of the earthenworks that formed the gardens. At the left in that picture is the King's Knot; the second, different area to the right is called "The Queen's Knot."

Beyond the King’s Knot, and stretching far into the distance, lay the King’s Park. This was the royal hunting forest, where the king and his courtiers could hunt for red deer and wild boar. James V was a keen huntsman. The hunt was often arranged so that the hunted beast was caught and killed within sight of the castle walls. The Ladies’ Lookout beside the Palace would have provided a vantage point to watch the spectacle. From here they could also have admired jousts in the royal tournament ground below.

The Castle Esplanade and Other Pictures

Robert Bruce

I suppose that the other item of interest is the statue of Robert Bruce, easily the second most famous Scotsman among non-Scots. (The only reason that he isn't at the top of the list is because Mel Gibson chose to portray William Wallace in the movie "Braveheart.")

Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (while we typically call him Robert Bruce, what we think of as his last name was more of a title), was King of Scots from 1306 until his death in 1329. Robert was one of the most famous warriors of his generation, eventually leading Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England. He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland's place as an independent nation, and is today remembered in Scotland as a national hero.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

To conclude our visit to Stirling Castle, this is as good a place as any to include a few more good pictures that we took in and around this mountaintop redoubt. So without any further explanation, here are the rest of the good pictures that we took today at the Castle. They are in the slideshow at right.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

From the parking area, we walked down the road back towards the van, intending to walk into the center of town to take some pictures and have some lunch.

A Walk Through Stirling, Scotland

We left Stirling Castle heading down the sidewalk alongside the auto road that leads up to the parking area, heading back down to the intersection near the Church of the Holy Rude; this intersection offered another direct walking route down into the center of Stirling.

When we came back down Castlehill Road towards where we parked, we were back in front of the Church of the Holy Rude, and the intersection where Broad Street leads down the hill towards the center of Stirling. There had been some other, smaller streets leading down from further up Castlehill Road, but we wanted to take a street that was a little less steep. You can see some views down these other streets here and here.

We were on the other side of Castlehill Road at this point, and so got different views of the complex of buildings that form the Church of the Holy Rude. There are clickable thumbnails below for a few of these views:

Since I was now far enough back from the church to be able to get some pictures of the whole building, I stopped to take three pictures to stitch together into a single panorama; you can see that picture below:

From the intersection, we walked down Broad Street two blocks until it ended in Bow Street, and then we took that to the right and then around to the left again as it became Baker Street and led all the way down into the center of Stirling. Along the way, we found some interesting buildings and sights to photograph, and came away with an eclectic collection. There are clickable thumbnails below for some of these pictures:

As it turns out, the area near the church was a traditional marketplace; not unusual in British towns when the church was the epicenter of community life. Near the intersection was a tall column, and on top is a figure called the "Mercat Cross." The column is adjacent to this market area, which also served as a community meeting area, where proclamations were made and many important ceremonies took place. On royal birthdays, town officials drank copious toasts round a bonfire to music of pipes or trumpets while all teh bells rang out. But riots also took place here, such as one in 1706 against the Union with England. The figure of the unicorn is an ancient one, and this one was known as "The Puggy" by Stirling locals.

As we continued down the streets, there were other buildings and sights of note; there are clickable thumbnails below for pictures of some of these:

I took one other picture that I thought was curious. It was a sign I saw on a recycle bin streetside; there was a unit that had separate compartments for different recyclables- just like here in the US. But I thought the sign kind of odd, and you can see it here. I suppose the Scots eat so much jam and drink so much milk that it's worth allocating an entire recycle bin to just the containers for those two foods!

When we got down into the center of Stirling, we found an interesting little pub and restaurant where we stopped to have lunch. There weren't any tables large enough for all of us, so the two couples sat at one table while Guy Fred and I sat at another on the other side of the room. The fish and chips was quite good. When we were done, we went across the street outside so Nancy could stop in a little antique shop.

After lunch, it was time to hike back up the street to the car. I took a different route back because I could see that the street the car was parked on paralleled the street we'd come down on. I passed an old home where I found a Drummond family grave (one of the members of this family was the mistress of James IV) and the former military prison, now called The Old Town Jail. Clickable thumbnails for some of my pictures are below, and a shot looking back down Castlehill Street is at left:

And below are clickable thumbnails for some of the photos Fred took on their way back up to the van:

We piled into the van and headed off to our last stop in Stirling, the William Wallace Monument.

The William Wallace Monument

From our parking place near the Church of the Holy Rude in Stirling, we made our way to the National Wallace Monument, across the Stirling Valley on the summit of a hill called Abbey Craig. As we approached, we could see the Monument above us.

I like including aerial views of monuments and such, and it is a shame that the Google 45° view wasn't available in this particular area. But here is the available aerial view of the monument, which we reached after a twenty-minute hike up the road from the Visitor Center, past the Abbey Craig Viewpoint and then on a path through the woods up to the base of the Monument.

There was an interesting sign down by the Visitor Center that talked about the trails up to the Monument, and a bit about the flora and fauna in the area. If you would like to peruse it, just use the scrollable window below, left.

Sir William Wallace (d. 1305) was a Scottish landowner who became one of the main leaders during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Along with Andrew Moray, Wallace defeated an English army at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297, and was Guardian of Scotland, serving until his defeat at the Battle of Falkirk in July 1298. In 1305, Wallace was captured near Glasgow and handed over to King Edward I of England, who had him hanged, drawn, and quartered for high treason and crimes against English civilians.

Since his death, Wallace has risen to an iconic status far beyond his homeland. He is the protagonist of the 15th-century epic poem The Wallace, by Blind Harry, was the subject of literary works by Sir Walter Scott and Jane Porter and the subject of the 1995 film Braveheart.

The National Wallace Monument (generally known as the Wallace Monument) stands on the summit of Abbey Craig, a hilltop northeast of Stirling, and from the plaza at the base of the tower, you can look back towards the town and see Stirling Castle on its own hilltop.

When we got up to the plaza at the base of the monument, out of the shelter of the forest, we found that it was extremely windy, and not just a bit raw.

I think that Fred's picture of Nancy tells the story of how windy it was. And it was due to the wind, I think, that only Karl and I decided to climb to the top of the tower. That I would go up was a foregone conclusion, but I have great respect for Karl, the one of us having the hardest time walking, to make the trek as well. But before we head up, let's talk a bit about the tower itself, and before we do that, let me include some of the pictures we took of the view from the plaza; use the clickable thumbnails below to have a look at some of them:

The National Wallace Monument tower was constructed following a fundraising campaign which accompanied a resurgence of Scottish national identity in the 19th century. In addition to public subscription, it was partially funded by contributions from a number of foreign donors, including Italian national leader Giuseppe Garibaldi. Completed in 1869 to the designs of architect John Thomas Rochead at a cost of $50,000, the monument is a 220 ft. sandstone tower, built in the Victorian Gothic style.

It stands on Abbey Craig, a volcanic crag above Cambuskenneth Abbey, from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the army of King Edward I of England, just before the Battle of Stirling Bridge.

The Monument consists of the tower and observation room on top, an entry hall and another, shorter house-like building attached. I did not inquire, but it turns out that this building was the original caretaker's house; now used as a tea room and small display area. I did not go into it, but there are some busts of Scottish heroes (I would see more of these in one of the tower rooms), artifacts and quite a few interesting signs, which Fred photographed. If you'd like to read them, click on one of their titles below, and I'll open up a new window to allow you to have a look.

The statue of William Wallace on the outside of the building is solid bronze and was sculpted by David Watson Stevenson. It is situated approximately 30 feet from the ground, and the statue itself stands around 15 feet tall. Other motifs on the building include the Scottish Thistle and the Wallace coat of arms- surrounded by a knotted rope (see graphic above, right).

I want to include two more pictures Fred took of the tower; you can look at them here and here.

It was tough to try to get the entire tower in one shot; you could not get far enough back from the front of the monument. So I tried my hand at taking a series of pictures of the tower and then merging them together. You use the scrollable window below, left to see the result:

I also made a movie looking up the tower from the plaza, and you can watch it with the player below. There was a great deal of wind noise in the film I actually made, so I have elminated the soundtrack altogether:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

It was time to head up to the top of the tower, so I bought an admission and headed over to the doorway leading to the spiral staircase up to the top of the monument. Internally there are four rooms in the tower of approximately 25 square feet, with vaulted ceilings 20-30 feet high. The spiral staircase connects these rooms in the north-west corner - and there are 246 steps to the top.

The ground floor room contains the inevitable souvenir shop and ticket booth (with a video player and TV screen continuously playing the Mel Gibson "Braveheart" film). The staff there must know the words off by heart by now! The first of the two inside rooms on the way up the staircase is a small "Wallace Museum," with an audio visual presentatiion on Wallace and his achievements. But it is the 700-year-old Wallace sword (left) which makes the biggest impression.

The sword is a traditional two-handed broad-sword, 71.5 inches in length. It weighs six pounds. Little is known about the origins of the sword for it carries no maker's mark and is therefore difficult to date. The quality of the metal used for the blade suggests that it may have been forged in Scotland (unlike other swords of the period which were often Flemish or German in origin).

It is known, however, that King James IV ordered the sword to be rehilted in 1505, so that it would be more fitting to Scotland's national hero. The size of the sword indicates that Sir William Wallace must have been at least six feet six inches tall.

The sword was traditionally kept in Dumbarton Castle until 17 November 1888 when it was handed over in Stirling Castle, to the Rev. Charles Rogers, the instigator of the project to create the Wallace Monument.

I didn't want to sit through the entire AV presentation, so I returned to the stairway to continue up. After another sixty steps or so I came to the second internal room in the tower. This one was called the "Hall of Heroes." The gallery contains busts of sixteen well known Scots, and you can see all of them if you watch the movie below, left.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) The Hall of Heroes Inside the Wallace Monument

I took pictures of each of the busts as well, and if you would like to see any of them (and learn about the individual), just click on his name below:

I learned that a number of the busts have been presented to the Monument by both individuals and organizations and reflect 19th and early 20th century view, so the entire selection is not perhaps the "top 16" on everyone's list. (The inclusion of Gladstone in this company may seem particularly odd but although he was not born in Scotland, his parents were both Scots and he claimed "there is not a drop of blood in my veins that is not Scottish.")

Finally, I continued up to the top of the tower; there, I found expansive views of the Ochil Hills to the north and the Forth Valley to the east, south and west. The views up here were just incredible in every direction. I spent a good deal of time just walking around the square area underneath the stone arches. It was still very windy.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible)

While I was up here at the top of the tower, I thought I would walk all the way around the border of the platform, taking a continual movie so you could see the views in all directions. When I reviewed the film, I found that the wind noise was really distracting, so once again I have elminated the soundtrack. You can watch this movie with the player at left.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

I walked around, taking pictures in all direction, and then heard someone else coming up the stairs to the tower. I was a bit surprised when I saw Kark come through the doorway that led out onto the viewing platform. Together, we admired the views and took some additional pictures of the views and of each other. I have put these pictures into a slideshow.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at right and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

When Karl and I were done up on top of the tower, we headed back down to rejoin everyone else. Only Fred, Guy and Ron Ruckman were still waiting for us, so we headed back together, and I discovered that from the southeast side of the Monument (where the road back down was) we could get a good view of the entire Wallace Monument. It was a pleasant, if chilly, walk back down the road through the woods to the visitor center, the girls, the van and the drive back to Edinburgh.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	September 17, 2013: Glamis Castle and Aberdeen, Scotland
	September 15, 2013: Sightseeing in Edinburgh (Day 2)
	Return to the Index for Our British Isles Trip