3 impressive castles in Scotland – Edinburgh, Stirling and Perth

You can’t come to Scotland without visiting a castle! There’s the impressive castles of Edinburgh and Stirling, and those that started life as fortified family homes.

Scottish castles give a flavor of the history and life in Scotland, on a royal or domestic scale. On our recent weekend break, we managed to visit not one but three castles in Scotland, each with a fascinating story to tell.

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Edinburgh Castle

Perched on the hill, overlooking the old town, Edinburgh Castle is one of Scotland’s most visited historic attractions and for good reason. At the top of the Royal Mile, behind the fortified gates, are a collection of buildings.

The buildings were built up over the centuries.by the successive Kings and Queens of Scotland such as James IV, James V and Mary Queen of Scotts. It was here the Queen Mary gave birth to James VI who succeeded Queen Elizabeth I as King of England.

The castle is always full of visitors, so I’d recommend that you arrive as it opens. You can easily spend a few hours or even a full day here. You may prefer to book a skip-the-line guided tour with included tickets.

Inside there’s plenty to see in the different buildings, each one containing a different museum or point of interest. These were the highlights of our visit;

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The Honours of Scotland

We started with the Scottish Crown Jewels known as The Honours of Scotland. This exhibition gets crowded so we wanted to see it first.

The entrance in Crown Square will get you in quickest to see the jewels themselves. The exhibit consists of the crown of Scotland, the scepter and sword of state. There’s also another entrance with a shorter queue. This takes you through an exhibition about the crowned Kings of Scotland and the coronation ceremony.

After the unification of England and Scotland, the jewels were hidden and lost from view for a hundred years. They were found again in a great chest and put on display to the public in 1819.

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The Royal Palace Apartments

View the ornate plaster ceilings, paneled wooden screens and colorful royal crests. You can feel the luxury and comfort of the royal household of King James V and Queen Mary of Guise.

It was here too that their daughter Mary Queen of Scotts gave birth to King James VI, in a small side room little bigger than a cupboard. Here no doubt the Queen could have some privacy from the court as she gave birth.

Scottish National War Memorial

If you have any family connections to the Scottish Regiments, you’ll want to visit the impressive Scottish National War Memorial. It was built in the 1920s on the site of an older church, to commemorate all those who fought in the two world wars and in military campaigns since 1914.

Photos are not allowed inside the memorials. But, at each of the regimental monuments inside you’ll find a leather bound book listing the names of the dead and the regimental colors hanging above.

The Great Hall

This impressive hall was used by the monarch to receive guests. It is now painted in rich red with wooden paneling and decorated by medieval swords and armor.

Look up to the small round window at one end to the right of the fireplace. This was the spot where the monarch could observe what was going on in the hall and listen in on the conversation of his courtiers.

The Prisons

Underneath the castle you can visit the vaults that were used to hold prisoners of war. Check out the straw mattresses and hammocks strung close together that formed the living and sleeping quarters of prisoners from France, America and other enemy countries in Europe during the 18th century.

Book a skip-the-line guided tour of Edinburgh Castle with included tickets

The Esplanade

The large open esplanade in front of the castle entrance is used for parades and concerts. In August it is converted with seating for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

It’s amazing to think that many thousands of visitors are packed each night into this area to watch the tattoo. The performers have to parade on a sloping surface, which looks surprisingly small compared to the way it appears on TV when it’s broadcast to millions of people.

If you go: check out the Edinburgh Castle Website for more details.

Stirling Castle

Around an hour’s drive from Edinburgh is Stirling Castle which is equally impressive although not quite as heavily visited as Edinburgh Castle. The castle has gone through a multi-million pound renovation.

It now shows the castle as a renaissance royal residence, as it was at the time of King James V and Queen Mary of Guise. Consider this full-day tour of Stirling Castle, Loch Lamond and the Kelpies.

The rooms are shown with brightly painted ceilings featuring symbolic heads, motifs and heraldic painting above the stone fireplaces. It reminds us that the faded furnishings and painted plasterwork we see today are not the vibrant colors that they were when originally made. These were the highlights of our visit that I especially enjoyed;

The Stirling Tapestries

In the Queen’s Inner Hall you’ll see seven hand-woven tapestries that are copies of originals made in the 1500s. They feature the hunt of the unicorn, a symbol of purity and strength.

These copies were hand-woven using the original techniques over a period of 13 years. There’s a fascinating exhibition in a separate building that shows how the tapestries were woven with some of the looms and wools on display.

The Stirling Heads

Having seen the brightly painted motifs on the ceilings of the royal apartments, we visited an exhibition to see these carved oak medallions which were recovered from the original 16th century ceiling. The commentary shows the symbolism of the different heads and how they demonstrate the dress and fashions of the time, with the wood being painted over in bright colors once mounted on the ceiling.

Visit Stirling Castle, Loch Lamond and the Kelpies on a full-day tour from Edinburgh

The Queen Anne Gardens

Close to the castle entrance there’s a lawn area, with a shady tree and views from the battlements over the surrounding countryside which included gardens and the royal hunting ground. I could imagine Mary Queen of Scotts playing here as a child with her governesses, under the watchful eye of her mother Queen Mary of Guise.

If you go: check out the Stirling Castle Website for more details.

The Black Watch Castle and Museum

The regimental museum of The Black Watch, is housed in 12th century Balhousie Castle in Perth. It’s just gone through a multi-million pound renovation with new displays and café and is a fascinating place to visit, even if you don’t have any family connections to the regiment.

In beautifully presented displays, the museum tells the story of one of Scotland’s best known regiments, who have played a leading role in Scottish and international military history since the regiment was founded in 18th century.

The museum and castle regularly hosts special exhibitions, such as the 2016 Weeping Window poppy installation with a sculptural flow of poppies, similar to those that were on display at The Tower of London.

From June 2017, the castle will be showing The Kelpies at the Castle, an exhibition of 10ft high scale models of the well-known Kelpies sculptures, highlighting the role of horses in Scottish and military history.

Black Watch Museum Café

We really enjoyed our lunch at The Black Watch museum café. This airy wooden beamed building offers friendly table service for lunches and afternoon teas.

This is where the popular lectures, organized by The Friends of the Black Watch, are held each month. These talks are by leading historians as well as family friendly events.

If you go: check out The Blackwatch castle and Museum website for more details.

For more information about holidays in Scotland, check out the Visit Scotland website.

Need a guidebook for Scotland? We recommend the DK Eyewitness Scotland Travel Guide

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Photo credits: The Great Hall and Scottish Crown Jewels photo from Edinburgh Castle gallery, all others by Heatheronhertravels.com

This article is originally published at Heatheronhertravels.com

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