Reid & Robie

It seemed as if the rock and castle assumed a new aspect every time I looked at them.

– Washington Irving

In Scotland, Robie and I were surrounded by castles and their ruins. With more than 3,000 scattered throughout the country, Scotland has one of the highest concentrations of old, stone fortresses in Europe.

For centuries these strongholds offered refuge from raiders and reliable defensive positions during frequent clan clashes or occasional wars with England. Many were designed to withstand months-long sieges and built with hidden passages for emergency escapes.

Ranging from ancient West Coast citadels steeped in Celtic myth to pristine Aberdeenshire estates owned by the British Royal Family, Robie and I visited six castles across Scotland. Some were primary residences while others were little more than stone shells. All came with fascinating histories. Below are three that now lie in ruins.

Dunscaith Castle, Isle of Skye

On a dramatic rock off Sleat Peninsula in the Isle of Skye sits Dunscaith Castle. The blustery location with views across the water to Rúm island was perfect for controlling the western sea lanes. Surrounded by steep vertical drops, the fortress is separated from the mainland by a gully making it appear impossibly perched atop the stony outcrop.

Access to the castle was across a slender, arched bridge. When the drawbridge was raised, attackers faced a precipitous drop onto jagged rocks below. If they made it across the chasm, they found a narrow, steep staircase and defenders above raining down projectiles. Inside the fortress, the walls were five feet thick and there was a freshwater well for surviving sieges. There was even a hidden sea gate for middle of the night escapes.

The origins of Dunscaith are shrouded in mystery and lore. Named for Queen Scáthach, a legendary warrior queen and magician, the castle was home to her academy for promising heroes. She welcomed Ireland’s mythic Cú Chulainn who arrived in Skye eager to learn warfare, sorcery and martial arts.

In the 1300s the castle served as a stronghold for the MacLeod clan and their allies. Coveting Dunscaith, the rival MacDonald clan launched three massive, failed sieges. When the MacDonalds finally succeeded, the castle ping-ponged between the adversaries for a century until the MacDonald’s made Dunscaith their permanent base. As clan wars subsided and comfort became more important than defense, the family headed inland, leaving the cold, windswept outcropping and abandoning the castle to dissolve in ruins.

Dunnottar Castle in Stonehaven

On the windy, coastal plains of northeast Scotland, medieval castles were built high atop the rugged shoreline. At Dunnottar Castle outside Stonehaven, the impressive compound sits on an isolated, rocky headland jutting defiantly into the turbulent North Sea. The contrast between crumbling stones, emerald grass and crashing waves offers a striking scene.

Accessible only by a narrow, steep footpath connected to the mainland, the site was an important stronghold for the Picts, the fierce northern tribe who so irritated the Romans, they built Hadrian’s Wall to keep them out of Brittania. For the Celtic-speaking Picts, an earth and timber fort provided strong defenses on remote Dunnottar.

By the 13^th century, the site had become an English garrison with few stone structures. It was then that Scottish freedom fighter, William Wallace famously ambushed the fortress. Rather than attempt a frontal assault up the heavily fortified path, Wallace and his army snuck through a hidden entrance in the outer wall, catching the English off guard. He then drove the defenders into the chapel and set it ablaze.

In 1392, the first permanent stone structure was erected at Dunnottar. The L-shaped Keep served as a stronghold and private residence for the Keith clan, the Earls of Marischal. With exceptionally thick walls, the building was designed to absorb a catapult’s impact while the lower level had slits for windows to ensure no enemy could not breach the ground floor. Nearby, the family added stables for horses and a smithy to produce and repair weapons.

As the centuries passed, the site transitioned from a purely defensive structure to a massive residential complex with multi-winged palace, bowling green and a cemetery. In the 16^th century, Mary Queen of Scots visited Dunnottar. She later returned, bringing her infant son, the future James I of England.

During Cromwell’s Protectorate, James’ grandson Charles II briefly visited Dunnottar to drum up support and overthrow the usurper. The event so enraged Cromwell, he laid siege to Dunnottar. For eight months a small Scottish contingent held out against superior forces and succeeded in saving the Honours of Scotland. Hiding the Scottish crown jewels in sacks filled with linen, they smuggled the regalia out of the castle and buried them under the floorboards of a nearby church where they remained until Cromwell’s death.

With Cromwell gone and the Keith family moved elsewhere, the heavily damaged castle turned into a military garrison. The Honours returned to Edinburgh and the British monarchy was once again reinstated. After the death of Charles, his brother James became king.

During James II’s reign, a group of religious dissidents called Covenanters tried to protect the Scottish Presbyterian Church from their Catholic ruler. When a group of Covenanters was rounded up, they were marched hundreds of miles to Dunnottar where 167 men and women were held in the castle’s damp, dark cellar.

Conditions were appalling. There were no beds, little fresh air and no lavatory. The only food was what could be bribed from the guards. When a few of the Covenanters attempted a daring escape from the remote castle, nearly all were caught and tortured. Those that survived the mistreatment were put on ships and sent as forced laborers to America.

Though they no longer lived there, the Keith family still owned Dunnottar. But when the Jacobite Uprising failed to restore the Stuart line to the Scottish throne, Jacobite George Keith, the 10^th Earl of Marischal, was stripped of his hereditary titles and lands, and Dunnottar quickly fell into ruin.

In 1919, the castle was purchased and underwent massive conservation efforts to keep what was left from collapsing into the sea. Debris was cleaned out and the buildings were stabilized. Today the site welcomes more than a quarter of a million visitors each year.

Slains Castle, Cruden Bay

Accessed through a wooded trail that opens onto windswept plains overlooking the coast, Slains Castle offers tales of redemption, horror and economic ruin. What’s left feels both majestic and desecrated.

Six miles from the site lies the original castle, referred to now as Old Slains. Erected by the Comyn clan, the property was forfeit after the family backed the losing side against Robert the Bruce. Old Slains was handed over to the Hays, Earls of Erroll. After the Hays joined a failed Catholic rebellion, the king ordered their stronghold demolished. To comply, the Aberdeen council set gunpowder and fired cannons leaving only a single crumbling wall visible today.

After making peace with the king, the Earl of Erroll chose not to restore his destroyed castle. Instead, he bought an existing tower known as Bowness perched on the cliffs above Cruden Bay. Renaming it Slains Castle, he then set about expanding it into a residential complex.

In the 1830s the Hay family brought in architect John Smith to remodel their vast estate. Redesigning the castle in grand Baronial style, Smith encased the courtyard and original tower then clad the entire exterior in pink granite.

In 1892 while on holiday from the Lyceum Theatre in London, Bram Stoker wandered around the cliffs of Slains Castle. Falling in love with Aberdeenshire, Stoker returned to Cruden Bay annually for nearly two decades. During his third summer, he stayed at Kilmarnock Arms Hotel. A year later, he began writing Dracula from the inn’s room No. 8, using the architecture of Slains Castle and its unique, windowless octagonal reception hall as the blueprint for a meeting between Jonathan Harker and the Count in his home at Castle Dracula.

In the aftermath of World War I, many aristocratic families suffered from a severe shortage of domestic staff. Facing immense inheritance taxes and unable to maintain the enormous complex, the Hays sold their estate to Sir John Ellerman. After parceling out the contents, Ellerman placed an ad in Country Life magazine in 1923 seeking to sell Slains Castle and all 332 acres of surrounding land for a mere £10,000, just over $700,000 in today’s terms.

Ellerman eventually offloaded the property to a London businessman who in turn resold the land but was unable to find a buyer for the sprawling castle. With the market suddenly flooded with country estates, the value of grand historic mansions collapsed, and Slains was sold to a demolition company from nearby Dundee.

Sadly, the new owners viewed the castle not as an historic treasure, but as a quarry of raw materials. Aggressively pillaging the site for resale, they tore out the dressed stone and salvaged the internal timber. Then they ripped off the roof and sold the lead used to make it for more money than they had paid to buy the property.

In stripping the roof, the company also reclassified the majestic building into an uninhabitable ruin which meant they no longer had to pay a government “roof tax”. After just two years, Slains Castle lay in ruin.