EP 21: "Four Castles" with Nicki Scott from Historic Environment Scotland

EP 21: "Four Castles" with Nicki Scott from Historic Environment Scotland

Want to discover some amazing, but not-quite-so-well-known, Scottish castles? We asked Nicki Scott, a Cultural Resources Advisor at Historic Environment Scotland, to tell us about four incredible castles that you may (or may not) have heard about. In this episode we discuss:

  • Bishop's and Earl's Palaces
  • Kildrummy Castle
  • Huntingtower Castle
  • Rothesay Castle

Have thoughts? Connect with 63 Percent Scottish on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram or contact us at 63percentscottish.com.

Music by RomanSenykMusic from Pixabay.

[00:00:00] This is 63% Scottish, a Scotland Appreciation Podcast.

[00:00:08] Welcome to 63% Scottish. My name is Eamon O'Flynn and I'm your host. Growing up in Canada, castles were some sort of mythical thing. We don't have them here, unless you consider Castle Loma in Toronto to be a real castle. It isn't. It was built in the 1910s.

[00:00:22] But I remember visiting it as a kid and thinking, wow, it's a real castle. Again, it isn't. It's more of a fancy, incomplete house. When I visit places like Scotland and Ireland, it's castles that really grab my attention. We just don't have anything like them.

[00:00:41] And there are some incredible castles in Scotland. Edinburgh Castle sits on a mountain of volcanic rock in the middle of one of the world's most beautiful cities. Stirling Castle was the home of the Stuart kings and queens. Elandon is the literal image of a Highland castle that everyone pictures when you say, imagine a Highland castle.

[00:01:00] Some other top tourist stops include Urquhart Castle, Blackness Castle, and of course, the royal residence, Balmoral Castle. The list is long. Some estimates suggest there are as many as 3,000 castles in Scotland. That sounds crazy.

[00:01:14] You can't take three steps in Scotland without tripping over another castle. Not all of them are well known, obviously. They can't all be Elandon. But that doesn't mean they aren't interesting. There's just tons of history, unique stories and more.

[00:01:29] What's the best way to tap into this history? How could I identify little-known but utterly fascinating Scottish castles? If I went to Scotland, what are, say, four castles that might feel like hidden gems?

[00:01:41] The answer is obvious. Ask the experts at Historic Environment Scotland.

[00:01:46] This organization is the lead public body set up to investigate, care for, and promote Scotland's historic environment.

[00:01:51] They maintain more than 300 properties, including Edinburgh Castle and Fort George, as well as Canmore, the online database of more than 320,000 archaeological sites, monuments, and buildings in Scotland.

[00:02:04] Oh, and if you've ever seen something from Historic Scotland on social media, well, that's them too.

[00:02:10] They offered up Nicky Scott, their senior cultural significance advisor, to tell me about four lesser-known, perhaps underappreciated castles you can find in Scotland.

[00:02:20] Welcome to the show, Nicky.

[00:02:22] Hello. Thanks for having me.

[00:02:23] Very excited to talk to...

[00:02:26] I'm going to call you a history nerd, because I think that that's probably true.

[00:02:33] Well, yes. I mean, my background is history. I took my PhD in Scottish history, so I started out life as a historian and branched off into other things with Hess, so yes.

[00:02:43] And to be honest, as someone who went to university for history at the Canadian university, the leader in Scottish history, certainly in Canada,

[00:02:55] your job sounds like kind of my dream that I might have had when I was a student in university.

[00:03:04] Can you tell us a little bit about it?

[00:03:06] Well, essentially, I get paid to spend my time researching historic monuments.

[00:03:14] So the history and archaeology of 336 properties and care that we look after, basically on behalf of the Scottish people.

[00:03:23] And that's everything from prehistoric sites like Scara Bray, through the medieval castles that you can have mentioned,

[00:03:32] all the way up to Fort George, to Sunny Bray Cottage, which is a little vernacular three-room building in Pitlokery,

[00:03:41] which was last inhabited in the 1990s.

[00:03:43] So there's a full spectrum of stuff.

[00:03:46] And yeah, they pay me to just spend my time looking into these buildings and thinking about them.

[00:03:51] Yeah, you're living the dream.

[00:03:53] It's the dream.

[00:03:54] There are worse jobs.

[00:03:55] There are worse jobs.

[00:03:57] Did I describe the organisation well enough as well?

[00:04:01] Yeah, I mean, our title buttons up over an awful lot of things.

[00:04:06] We are also very keen on promoting traditional craft skills, so thatching, stone masonry,

[00:04:13] and we have active apprenticeships in that area.

[00:04:17] We also look after the collections associated with the site.

[00:04:20] So if bits of the monument have come off, we retain them near the site.

[00:04:25] Excavated objects, we contain those.

[00:04:28] So there's an extensive and ever-growing, it has to be said, collection of objects at site.

[00:04:35] So stained glass, pottery tiles, glass beads, human remains, a full range of things.

[00:04:42] We have a whole team who are dedicated to managing and preserving those as well.

[00:04:46] So we could be here all day talking about all the different things the organisation does.

[00:04:51] It's kind of staggering, the breadth of the work.

[00:04:55] If you, you know, like it's one, I'm oversimplifying it, say, in the introduction just now of saying,

[00:05:00] like, there's many castles, but these castles are from, there's many centuries separating,

[00:05:07] and they're totally different as a result.

[00:05:09] Absolutely.

[00:05:10] I mean, you could spend a whole podcast just debating what is a castle.

[00:05:14] I mean, you say in your introduction, well, in 1910, it's got a proper castle,

[00:05:18] but, I mean, castles essentially are big fancy houses.

[00:05:21] That's one of their key things.

[00:05:24] There are still properties being built in the 1800s that are called castles.

[00:05:29] So, I mean, is just giving it the name castle enough to make it a castle?

[00:05:34] That's a whole other podcast to debate.

[00:05:37] And I think we could have that conversation with Casa Loma,

[00:05:39] because I do think that it feels more like a fancy house that someone built

[00:05:46] to try to feel like a castle than it, anyway.

[00:05:49] Yeah.

[00:05:50] But I think those are the arguments.

[00:05:52] Elin Donan has that kind of thing to it, right?

[00:05:54] It was completely rebuilt or mostly rebuilt at some point, and it's a debate.

[00:05:58] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:05:59] And I think it depends, you know, how is our perception that a castle has to be a ruin?

[00:06:05] Does that have something to do with it?

[00:06:06] So as soon as you put a roof on it, is it still a castle?

[00:06:09] It's, you know.

[00:06:10] That is, yeah.

[00:06:12] So many things to consider, listeners.

[00:06:14] Absolutely, yes.

[00:06:16] So I did ask for, I kind of went to Historic Environment Scotland and I said,

[00:06:24] what are some castles that we could talk about?

[00:06:27] And the first one, I almost feel like this is cheating.

[00:06:30] This is Bishop's Palace and Earl's Palace are two different palaces.

[00:06:35] There's two different places in one place, but they're very close by each other, correct?

[00:06:41] They absolutely are.

[00:06:42] I mean, they're short of joint and they're really only now separated physically by one modern road.

[00:06:49] Yeah.

[00:06:49] So, you know, and certainly when we are looking at them and managing them, we consider them one because they are so closely linked and their history is so closely linked as well.

[00:06:59] So, yeah, it's essentially one.

[00:07:03] One place.

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:04] Yeah.

[00:07:05] Yeah.

[00:07:05] Okay.

[00:07:06] So Bishop's Palace.

[00:07:08] Yes.

[00:07:09] We won't get into the, we will not get into the, what is the difference between a castle and a palace?

[00:07:14] I don't think we need to get too deep into that.

[00:07:17] Yeah.

[00:07:17] I mean, it's, again, that's a whole other podcast about the terminology.

[00:07:24] I mean, they essentially do the same thing and providing a comfy residence for someone who's either very rich or very important or both or who thinks of themselves as being very rich and or very important.

[00:07:40] So.

[00:07:40] We'll hear about a bunch of those people in the next couple of minutes.

[00:07:46] So Bishop's Palace is, is the older of the, of the two being built in the 12th century.

[00:07:51] Yes.

[00:07:52] Yes.

[00:07:53] So it's, it's kind of built to be the main residence of the Bishop, basically his cathedral.

[00:08:00] Carpe wall is right across the road from the palace.

[00:08:04] And so it's somewhere where he can be entertaining and living the lavish lifestyle that a Bishop would be expected to live.

[00:08:13] You know, they're not living quiet, retiring residencies, the bishops of the medieval period.

[00:08:20] So it's something that was commensurate with his status.

[00:08:24] I think it's important to remember at this point, Orkney is not actually part of Scotland.

[00:08:29] So Orkney and Shetland don't become part of the Scottish kingdom until the later 1400s.

[00:08:35] So his bishop, he's essentially reporting to the Norse king in the Scandinavian kingdom.

[00:08:44] And so he's very separate, despite the, how close geographically Orkney is to mainland Scotland.

[00:08:51] He's very much looking to, to, to Norway, Denmark for, for, for political reasons, for religious connections.

[00:09:00] But yeah, it's, it's, it's his residence that's there.

[00:09:04] And the, the kind of, the, the Bishop's palace itself, it represents a sort of momentous location in, in terms of the Scotland, Scotland's relationship with Norway as well, right?

[00:09:16] Yes, it's, you know, had a few key moments that have been part of that, that history.

[00:09:23] So the, the king of Norway, King Hakon, he dies here in 1263.

[00:09:28] So that's just after the Battle of Largs.

[00:09:33] So the battle itself is fairly inconclusive, but it essentially leads to the Treaty of Perth of 1266, in which the Western Isles of Scotland become officially part of the Scottish crown.

[00:09:46] So until that point, the Western Isles as well were part of the Norse kingdom, not officially part of Scotland.

[00:09:53] But it's after that battle and the subsequent treaty that they become formally part of the Scottish kingdom.

[00:10:00] So it's that point where Scotland starts to become much more recognisable geographically as the kingdom we know today.

[00:10:09] And obviously, you know, Scotland has close diplomatic links with, with the Norse kingdom.

[00:10:16] So intermarriage, for instance, we nearly had a Norse monarch at one point in Margaret, maid of Norway.

[00:10:24] So she was the heir to Alexander III, who unfortunately fell off his horse and died without a male heir.

[00:10:32] And so his granddaughter, daughter of the Norwegian king, was essentially going to be the monarch.

[00:10:40] But she died on her way to Scotland and laid at rest for a time at the Beheb's palace before being returned to Norway for burial.

[00:10:48] Hmm. And an earl's palace was built a bit later.

[00:10:56] I do kind of wonder why, why was something built?

[00:11:00] Was it just the, was it that, just for a different person?

[00:11:04] Obviously, it's, it's not a bishop necessarily living there.

[00:11:08] So.

[00:11:09] It's not the bishop living there, although they did control the bishop's palace as well.

[00:11:15] So after the reformation of 1560, Scotland's done away with bishops.

[00:11:22] Well, it's sort of done away with bishops.

[00:11:24] It's an ongoing issue for about another hundred or so years.

[00:11:26] But again, that's another podcast.

[00:11:28] Another podcast.

[00:11:28] Yeah.

[00:11:29] But at that point in time, it's essentially done away with bishops.

[00:11:33] So it gives away, the crown essentially gives the land and residencies of bishops away to their nobles as kind of rewards and things.

[00:11:43] So the bishop's palace is acquired in the 1560s by the Earl of Orkney, Robert Stuart.

[00:11:49] And it's his son, Patrick, who begins to build the Earl's Palace.

[00:11:56] And partly that's because of changing fashion.

[00:11:59] So obviously, as you say, the bishop's palace has begun several hundred years before.

[00:12:04] Fashions have changed.

[00:12:05] And so Patrick, who's become Earl of Orkney himself in 1593, he wants the latest desrets.

[00:12:14] You know, he wants something that is fitting for his status.

[00:12:18] So he's building the latest stuff.

[00:12:21] So he's going for scaling plat stairs, straight stairs instead of spiral stairs.

[00:12:25] He's going for fancy aureole windows.

[00:12:29] And really, the Earl's Palace is one of the finest Renaissance buildings that exists in Scotland.

[00:12:35] So it's not just fancy for Orkney, it's fancy for the whole country.

[00:12:39] So he's, you know, looking to convey how important he views himself as.

[00:12:46] It doesn't necessarily go down well with the people in Orkney.

[00:12:50] He's something of a reputation for cruelty, essentially.

[00:12:57] The Crown does eventually summon him to the Privy Council to answer for his crimes, which include theft, kidnapping, torture and murder.

[00:13:08] So he's not exactly the nicest chap in the world.

[00:13:14] But we do, you know, still have this amazing building to show for his efforts.

[00:13:20] Yeah.

[00:13:21] And yeah, yes, we would we would probably or I would refer to him as maybe he's a real piece of work.

[00:13:27] That guy.

[00:13:28] He was.

[00:13:29] Yeah.

[00:13:29] There's many other harsher words we could we could use.

[00:13:33] Yes, I'm assuming this is a family friendly podcast.

[00:13:36] It is.

[00:13:36] But we can but we can say, well, it is it is.

[00:13:40] But I've done enough interviews with Scottish people to know that that doesn't stop people.

[00:13:44] But but, you know, and he he is eventually executed, I believe.

[00:13:52] He is.

[00:13:53] Yes.

[00:13:54] He's imprisoned first in Edinburgh and then Dumbarton Castle.

[00:13:58] And his illegitimate son, Robert, leads a rebellion to try and basically get lands and properties back and get his dad released.

[00:14:10] So he ends up attacking government forces in Kirkwall.

[00:14:13] And but it fails and they are both ultimately executed.

[00:14:19] So, yeah, neither are particularly nice chaps, shall we say.

[00:14:23] And the people rejoiced.

[00:14:25] Yeah.

[00:14:26] Until the next novel comes along.

[00:14:28] Until the next one.

[00:14:29] Yeah.

[00:14:29] You mentioned that these are in Orkney, these two.

[00:14:34] Is is that you know, does HES have many outer island castles in its portfolio or is it relatively unique?

[00:14:42] No, we do have a few.

[00:14:44] There's another Earl's Palace on Orkney that we have as well.

[00:14:48] So there's two Earl's Palaces.

[00:14:50] And that one is at Bercy on basically the other side of the mainland from Kirkwall.

[00:14:56] But also the Stuart Earl's have that.

[00:15:02] There's Cubby Roo's Castle in Wyre and Nolten Castle in Westray.

[00:15:07] So there are other castles in Orkney.

[00:15:10] We've also got Britain's most northerly castle on Unst in the Shetland Isles.

[00:15:16] So, yeah, there are definitely a few castles out there that we have.

[00:15:21] Excellent.

[00:15:22] And definitely worth the journey to go see them.

[00:15:24] And as you were saying, you know, the fashion had changed.

[00:15:27] It did make me think of my kind of, you know, drafty old house.

[00:15:31] And I mean, old in Canadian terms, not in, you know, Scottish terms.

[00:15:36] Drafty old house here.

[00:15:37] But thinking, you know, like you said, there's hundreds of years between these these two places.

[00:15:41] And the fashions do change the same way my house has no insulation whatsoever.

[00:15:45] But we're in Canada and the house right next door built 15 years later, substantially different in its building.

[00:15:52] So I do think one of the cool things about this particular place is that you can see they're so close by that you can see the differences.

[00:16:01] Yeah, I think that is one of the good things.

[00:16:04] I mean, there are obviously changes made to the bishop's palace over time, but it's still fundamentally much more like what would be required of a noble in that earlier period of the 1200s, 1100s, 1200s, 1300s than what was required by the later 1500s, 1600s.

[00:16:25] So, yeah, it's really good to be able to see them side by side.

[00:16:30] And so the second castle that was provided to me, or maybe I'll say third.

[00:16:36] I don't know.

[00:16:37] I'm not sure what I'm counting those first ones as or whether it was.

[00:16:41] But let's say the second one is Kildrummy Castle, which is in Aberdeenshire.

[00:16:47] That Aberdeenshire, am I saying, I always feel like I'm saying stuff wrong.

[00:16:53] Aberdeenshire, yeah.

[00:16:54] Yes, got it close.

[00:16:56] Yeah.

[00:16:56] So we're talking about another pretty old one here in mid 13th century.

[00:17:01] And it did play a role in the Wars of Independence, correct?

[00:17:05] It did, yes.

[00:17:07] It was a very strategic location and was in the ownership of the Earl of Mar.

[00:17:13] So quite a key player in Scottish history.

[00:17:17] So it does play a role.

[00:17:20] I mean, it was visited by Edward I after he invades Scotland in 1296.

[00:17:25] So, you know, he's clearly recognising the importance of it.

[00:17:30] It's Earl owner.

[00:17:32] But there's really two sort of key episodes where it's involved.

[00:17:37] So there's a siege in 1306 where English forces lay siege to it.

[00:17:44] They're led by Edward, Prince of Wales.

[00:17:47] So the future Edward II.

[00:17:49] And it basically followed Robert Bruce, famous Robert the Bruce, seizing the Scottish throne.

[00:17:59] English not particularly happy with that.

[00:18:03] So Robert had sent his wife Elizabeth and his daughters north for safety to get them out of the firing line, as it were.

[00:18:13] And they ended up at Caldromie.

[00:18:16] And the English ended up besieging the castle.

[00:18:21] Now, they were able to escape Elizabeth and her daughters, although they were later captured.

[00:18:28] But Robert's brother, Neil, continued to defend the castle against the siege.

[00:18:33] So he was ultimately captured and sent to Berwick-upon-Tweed where he was executed.

[00:18:39] It's said that the defenders were actually betrayed by one of their own.

[00:18:45] Later sources identify him as Osborne, the castle blacksmith, who apparently set fire to grain that was being stored in the Great Hall.

[00:18:54] Folktales say his reward was a draft of molten gold.

[00:18:57] So think Game of Thrones and the gold being poured in the throat.

[00:19:03] It's not clear if he was rewarded by the English or by the Scots.

[00:19:10] Obviously, you know, neither would be particularly favorably looking upon a traitor.

[00:19:16] Yes.

[00:19:16] So, yeah.

[00:19:18] So that would be the key first episode in the wars.

[00:19:24] We're not clear about the intervening period between this and the next.

[00:19:28] A lot of castles change hands a lot of times during the wars of independence.

[00:19:32] So Kiljombo may have done a bit of that.

[00:19:34] But certainly by the 1330s, it was back in Scottish hands.

[00:19:39] And at that point, it was being defended by Robert's sister, Lady Christina Bruce.

[00:19:45] She's sometimes referred to as Christian Bruce.

[00:19:49] So she is directly leading the defense of this castle for David II, who was by then king in 1335.

[00:20:01] And it's difficult to know the numbers, but it seems like she was leading a garrison of around 300 against a force of about 3000.

[00:20:11] And was able to do that successfully.

[00:20:14] You know, people who've written about this period say this was a real turning point for the Bruce faction.

[00:20:21] So the Scottish royal faction in the second phase of the wars.

[00:20:26] And that ultimately helped turn the tide of the war in their favor, ultimately securing the kingship for Robert's heir David.

[00:20:35] And so, you know, had she not been there doing such an amazing job, who knows the direction things might have taken.

[00:20:42] Yeah.

[00:20:43] And in my notes or in the notes I was sent by one of your colleagues, they mentioned that Kildrummy is also highlighted for early conservation history.

[00:20:52] Can you tell me what that is about?

[00:20:55] So I think people often think that, you know, conserving ruins is something that the government does.

[00:21:03] But actually a lot of sites that we look after, it's early antiquarians who take on that role.

[00:21:10] And while that helps a lot of places survive, it's sometimes not necessarily the wisest choices that are made.

[00:21:21] But for instance, at Kildrummy, we have some very early paintings of the site before anything is done.

[00:21:30] And there are considerable differences, shall we say, between what the place looks like when we take it into care in 1951 and what it looked like before Colonel James Augustine started out his works after he bought the estate in 1898.

[00:21:47] So he significantly rebuilt some areas, including filling a giant hole in the curtain wall, which makes it unfortunately a bit difficult sometimes to know what it would have actually looked like back in the day.

[00:22:01] But it helped to kind of stabilise the site so that we could then, you know, take it into care and continue that conservation and protection of the site.

[00:22:16] But it's something to bear in mind when you're going to a ruin, just because it's a ruin doesn't mean it has always looked the same sort of ruin as always.

[00:22:27] They are evolving buildings.

[00:22:29] I was joking with someone else I spoke to for this podcast about the idea of, you know, Robert the Bruce saying, you know what, we should put this sword somewhere really safe because like 700 years from now, people are going to be super interested.

[00:22:47] You know, there's just a lot of that.

[00:22:49] Like we like I think there's this thinking because today I think we do a lot of that of saying, oh, this thing's you know, this is a gavel that this important person, this important judge used.

[00:22:58] Let's make sure we put it somewhere safe so that we could always find it later on.

[00:23:01] But I don't think that history didn't work that way.

[00:23:03] And so a lot of these things wouldn't be preserved if you didn't have these people trying to.

[00:23:08] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:23:11] And I think it helps to show that there was that interest in the sites and the places and in the history and the heritage.

[00:23:21] So, yeah, we are absolutely grateful to people making those early efforts.

[00:23:27] But, yeah, we're sometimes not just conserving the ruin.

[00:23:32] We're sometimes trying to figure out what is the ruin.

[00:23:35] Yes.

[00:23:35] And what is the later conservation, which is one of the things I can look at in my work.

[00:23:42] So, yeah, it's often a bit of a puzzle.

[00:23:47] It's a puzzle.

[00:23:48] It's fun.

[00:23:49] Puzzles are fun.

[00:23:50] Absolutely.

[00:23:51] Yeah.

[00:23:52] The next one that was on the list is Hunting Tower Castle, which is in Perth.

[00:23:58] One interesting element that I found when I was trying to when I was reading up about it was that it wasn't always called Hunting Tower.

[00:24:04] Why did the name change?

[00:24:08] Well, it used to be the place of Ruthven or Ruthven Castle.

[00:24:14] So it was first built by a family who held lands of Ruthven in Perthshire.

[00:24:22] They'd held the land since sometime in the 1100s, although the castle was only built from the 1400s.

[00:24:29] But essentially, that family got into a little spot of bother, shall we say, with the crown.

[00:24:37] Never a good place to be.

[00:24:39] Yeah.

[00:24:40] Twice.

[00:24:41] So they did something a bit bad once, got forgiven and did something bad again and ultimately got punished for it.

[00:24:48] So in the early 1580s, the Lord of Ruthven, who was by then Earl of Gowrie, essentially led a coup against the King James VI.

[00:25:01] So there were several nobles involved.

[00:25:04] They were essentially unhappy with the direction of James' government and they were trying to basically separate him from his advisors.

[00:25:11] So they thought a good way of doing that would be to imprison him at Hunting Tower for 10 months.

[00:25:17] Because, you know, who isn't really favourably on you for, you know, imprisoning him?

[00:25:25] The Earl was eventually forfeited.

[00:25:27] So he lost all these lands and titles and he was executed.

[00:25:31] But his heirs were restored to them.

[00:25:34] So basically, the family generally was forgiven.

[00:25:37] Was forgiven.

[00:25:38] Yeah.

[00:25:40] Only for them in 1600 to turn around and try and lead another coup.

[00:25:46] Yeah.

[00:25:47] So the third Earl attempted to imprison the king again at their townhouse in Perth.

[00:25:53] So that's so the first coup gets known as the Ruthwin Raid.

[00:25:57] The second one gets known as the Gowrie Conspiracy.

[00:26:00] And so the third Earl and his brother were killed in the process.

[00:26:06] And as part of the response to that, they were indicted for high treason and an act of parliament basically extinguished their name, erased their coat of arms and specified.

[00:26:20] So it's specified in the act of parliament that the place of Ruthwin, Ruthwin Castle, should be thereafter called Hunting Tower.

[00:26:28] So basically, the family led two coups against the crown.

[00:26:33] And that's why the name change was forced.

[00:26:36] Yeah.

[00:26:37] Would not recommend it.

[00:26:38] Just generally.

[00:26:40] Rebelling against the crown rarely goes well.

[00:26:43] Yeah.

[00:26:44] There's not.

[00:26:44] Yeah.

[00:26:45] That's right.

[00:26:46] For every one time it works, many times it does not.

[00:26:49] Exactly.

[00:26:50] Exactly.

[00:26:51] The other thing I also read a bit about is that the design, the two tower design of Hunting Tower is a bit unique.

[00:26:59] Is that true?

[00:27:01] It is.

[00:27:02] Yeah.

[00:27:02] So tower houses are quite a common feature of castles in Scotland.

[00:27:08] So, you know, basically a square rectangular block.

[00:27:12] You build up several stories.

[00:27:13] You get yourself a tower house.

[00:27:16] And although there's lots of other buildings found about, there's usually only one tower house.

[00:27:22] But at Hunting Tower, there's two separate tower houses that are built very close together.

[00:27:27] So it's something like three meters apart.

[00:27:29] Wow.

[00:27:31] And one was begun very soon after the other one.

[00:27:36] So the first may not have even been complete at the time the second was begun.

[00:27:41] Wow.

[00:27:41] And it is highly unusual.

[00:27:43] I'm not aware of another example like it in Scotland.

[00:27:45] I think there's a similar example somewhere in Ireland, but there's not many anywhere in the British Isles that I'm aware of.

[00:27:53] And we really don't know why that is.

[00:27:57] I mean, it's not like there's a lack of space in the area to build them further apart.

[00:28:01] It's not like the family lacked land and other locations where they could build other towers.

[00:28:07] So it's really it.

[00:28:09] It's definitely one of the things that's a bit of a puzzle.

[00:28:12] And they were joined by a sort of screen facade.

[00:28:16] So looking at it from the front, it would look like they were one building.

[00:28:21] And that was formalized later on with an actual formal link block built, fully joining them.

[00:28:28] But when you go inside, you can still see where one tower is against the other.

[00:28:35] So it's a very odd arrangement and definitely one that if I ever get a time machine, it's top of my list to knit back and ask them, what are you doing?

[00:28:46] Why are you doing that?

[00:28:47] Why are you doing this?

[00:28:48] Okay, I'm leaving now because I hear it's about to get bad here.

[00:28:51] Yes, yes.

[00:28:52] Plus, you know, I kind of like hot and cold running water and those things.

[00:28:57] But, you know, quick visit and just kind of ask the builders.

[00:29:01] Yeah.

[00:29:01] Okay, what's going on here?

[00:29:03] What's going on here?

[00:29:04] And it does seem like they've missed an opportunity to call it hunting towers as well.

[00:29:09] There's two.

[00:29:09] It's unique.

[00:29:10] Come on, guys.

[00:29:11] It's marketing.

[00:29:11] It's marketing 101.

[00:29:12] Well, yeah.

[00:29:42] Yeah.

[00:29:44] Am I going to say this wrong?

[00:29:46] Who knows?

[00:29:47] Rothsay, is it?

[00:29:49] Rothsay.

[00:29:49] Rothsay.

[00:29:50] Okay, I'm close.

[00:29:51] It's in Argyle and Butte.

[00:29:54] Butte?

[00:29:55] Yes.

[00:29:57] So this is the last one that I was sent.

[00:30:02] And this is the second castle that intersects with King Hacken, correct?

[00:30:08] Yeah.

[00:30:08] Yes.

[00:30:09] It's such an important place in terms of, again, it's part of that control.

[00:30:17] The Scots trying to expand their control westward.

[00:30:21] So it sits on the Isle of Butte.

[00:30:24] And, you know, as we were talking about with the bishops and earl palaces, the Western Isles were once under the control of the Norwegian king.

[00:30:35] It's possible the Scots had some control in Butte by the late 1100s.

[00:30:41] But, again, that was sort of a toing and froing of a thing.

[00:30:45] So the Norse pushed back, the Scots pushed back.

[00:30:48] So it makes Rothsay really on the front line between the two kingdoms in their battle for control.

[00:30:56] And so it's attacked several times.

[00:31:00] And, again, you know, that causes it to develop in its design.

[00:31:05] And it's sort of the kind of final phase of its design really comes after the Treaty of Perth, 1266, when it becomes formally part of the Scottish kingdom.

[00:31:20] So politics are influencing what's going on with its design.

[00:31:26] And speaking of the design, from what I know, it's the main draw, if you're interested in architecture, is that it's home to Scotland's only circular curtain wall?

[00:31:37] Yes, yes.

[00:31:38] I mean, it tends to be much more common that you build in straight lines when you're building in stone.

[00:31:45] That's what most castles are.

[00:31:48] Not necessarily always squares or rectangles.

[00:31:50] We have one triangle at Curlaverick.

[00:31:52] But straight lines are much more normal.

[00:31:56] But at Rothsay, it is indeed a circular curtain wall.

[00:32:00] It was probably fully circular until after 1266 when its fourth corner towers are added on.

[00:32:10] But it may owe to the original design of the timber palisade.

[00:32:15] I mean, that may have been circular.

[00:32:17] And so they just followed sat in stone.

[00:32:22] There is a moat around.

[00:32:25] Again, that's also draw.

[00:32:27] Most castles don't actually have active moats, despite it being...

[00:32:31] A thing we all picture.

[00:32:33] Yes, but very few castles actually have actual moats.

[00:32:37] It tends to be dry ditches.

[00:32:39] But it may be just the design of the moat has influenced that.

[00:32:43] But it's an odd one.

[00:32:46] But again, it just adds that little bit of extra interest.

[00:32:51] I mean, you mentioned Canmore in the introduction.

[00:32:53] I believe there are some good aerial photos of the site on Canmore.

[00:32:57] So a good place if you want to go and have a wee nosy without actually flying all the way to Scotland.

[00:33:04] Yes, paying thousands of dollars for a flight.

[00:33:07] But it seems worth visiting just purely on the basis of it is unique.

[00:33:12] It's unique in Scotland.

[00:33:14] Absolutely, yes.

[00:33:16] So, you know, come visit and say, yeah, I have been to Scotland's circular castle.

[00:33:21] Yeah.

[00:33:22] Okay.

[00:33:23] From here, we're going to wrap up.

[00:33:25] But where can people learn more about castles in Scotland?

[00:33:27] And of course, Historic Environment Scotland.

[00:33:31] Definitely a good port of call would be our website.

[00:33:33] So there's lots of information about the vast array of work that we do, information about our site.

[00:33:41] So all of the sites that we look after, all those 336 sites, has what we call a statement of significance.

[00:33:48] So that just summarizes the history, the archaeology, the architecture, what we know about a site.

[00:33:56] And they're all free to download from our website.

[00:33:58] Okay.

[00:33:59] But also sites like Canmore or Scran.

[00:34:03] These are good archival sites.

[00:34:05] So you can search for sites and there'll be amazing photos and details of archaeological excavations.

[00:34:13] And just font of information there as well.

[00:34:17] Incredible.

[00:34:18] Okay.

[00:34:18] And is there any way for listeners to support Historic Environment Scotland's mission?

[00:34:23] Yeah, absolutely.

[00:34:24] We are a charity, so we do accept donations.

[00:34:27] You can also choose to become a member.

[00:34:30] So that gives you free entry to all our sites for a year and amazing other benefits as well.

[00:34:37] And that gives us, you know, an amazing regular income that helps us continue our conservation work.

[00:34:43] Our shop, online shop, also has some amazing goodies that are Scottish themed.

[00:34:49] And again, purchases there will help support our work as well.

[00:34:54] Yes, exactly.

[00:34:56] So if you want to help Nikki continue to put together the puzzles that are the castles and historic sites all over Scotland,

[00:35:02] please, please consider supporting Historic Environment Scotland's mission.

[00:35:07] Thank you so much for joining us.

[00:35:09] You're very welcome.

[00:35:10] It's been great to talk about castles.

[00:35:20] Thank you for listening to 63% Scottish.

[00:35:22] Check us out on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, also known as X.

[00:35:26] You can also listen to every episode for free at 63%Scottish.com.

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[00:35:36] It really helps.

[00:35:37] A big thank you to friends of the podcast, including the Toronto St. Andrews Society,

[00:35:42] the Scottish Society of Ottawa, the Scottish Banner and Scottish Studies at the University of Guelph.

[00:35:47] Your support is never taken for granted.

[00:35:50] Until next time.

[00:35:52] Goodbye.