It's not strictly true to say that Stirling Castle is a newest favourite thing because I went there about four years ago, but I liked it very much and, although I have posted about the monarchs who lived there, and the Dos and Don'ts of Kingship, I have not yet posted about the castle itself, so here we are.
Perched atop a cliff, it is an imposing structure along the lines of Edinburgh Castle. It dominates the landscape above the river Forth at the meeting point between Lowlands and Highlands, and the tourism info claims it was the key to the kingdom of Scotland. During the Wars of Independence, which were civil wars among the Scots as well as a struggle between Scotland and England, the castle changed hands eight times in 50 years. It was the focal point for famous battles such as Stirling Bridge (featuring William Wallace) and Bannockburn (starring Robert the Bruce), in which Robert captured the castle back from the English but destroyed its defences to stop it being used by the English in future.
Robert the Bruce is a complicated character who seems to have been on and off the English side until neither Edward I (reigning monarch in England) or the Scots really trusted him. What he really wanted was the crown of Scotland, to which his family held a claim along with several other powerful families. He stabbed the heir of one of those to death, became King of Scotland and had bloody civil wars with the family of the deceased claimant. Whatever his credentials, he is clearly admired enough to have a statue of him built just outside the castle.
There are commanding views from the battlements, as you might expect, and also some interesting archaeology. Intriguingly enough, research carried out in 2011 revealed that King Arthur's round table may well have been hidden beneath the historic King's Knot that sits below the castle.
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| The King's Knot |
The King's Knot, best appreciated from the Ladies' Lookout in Stirling Castle, is on the grounds of the ancient King's Park, Crown property from at least the 1100s, where Scotland's royalty partook in jousting, hawking and hunting. The earthworks known as the King's and Queen's Knots were part of the formal gardens of Stirling Castle, and were remodelled for Charles I's 'hamecoming' for his Scottish coronation, which took place in 1663.
You can also see the amazing burial grounds, such as the Old Town Cemetery which spreads over the valley between the castle and the Church of the Holy Rude. A burial ground has occupied the site west of the Holy Rude Church since 1129, when the first Dominican Chapel was built here. For most of Stirling's history, those who could afford memorials were laid to rest beneath the church floor, a practice which ceased in 1623 officially 'to avoid the great abuse and profanation of God, his house, in burying of dead corpses', but actually because the stench within the kirk had become unbearable.
Many of the graves are marked only with initials and symbols; names are rare as such identification would be a sign of sinful vanity. Who you were didn't matter, whereas what you were, did - thus stones bear the marks of a hammer, mallet and chisel (Masons and Quarriers), skulls, crossed-bones and hourglasses (Death), an Angel, Green Man or Ouroboros (Resurrection) or symbols of trade or business (Occupation).
In November 1823, 'Resurrection Men', graverobbers seeking corpses for medical study, visited the cemetery probably surmising that as it was terribly overcrowded, a few bodies wouldn't be missed. In the 1840s, the new Valley Cemetery was landscaped 'as an ornamental cemetery according to the most approved manner of a modern necropolis' by evangelist William Drummond. Its straight lines and regimented rows were inspired by scripture: 'the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.' (Isaiah 40:4).
That's quite a lot about the surrounds, now for the castle itself. After entering through the main gate, the Queen Anne Gardens are through the next archway. This peaceful and pretty garden is on the 'sunny south side' (remembering this is Scotland) of the castle, overlooked by the Queen's Lodgings and the Prince's Tower. There may have been a royal garden here since the 1400s; the flat lawn was turned into a bowling green in the 1620s, and the beech tree is over 200 years old.
The castle has been both a great royal residence and a powerful stronghold. Following the attempted Jacobite invasion of 1807, improvements to the castle's defences were ordered as a matter of priority. The main front wall was extended outwards to form 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. To the rear of the walls, chambers called casemates were built to strengthen the wall and provide gun emplacements. The French Spur was modified slightly to allow more canons to be mounted.
The main parts of the castle are arranged around the quadrangular Inner Close: the Royal Palace; the King's Old Building; the Chapel Royal; and the Great Hall.
In times of peace, Scottish royalty came to Stirling to enjoy its comforts, the superb hunting and to hold court - the castle was often the centre of government. Royal building projects like the Great Hall, the Chapel Royal and the Palace of James V marked it out as one of the most important places in all Scotland. It was also a childhood home of some of the most famous people in Scottish and British history, such as Mary Queen of Scots and James VI and I.
The Royal Palace is one of the best-preserved Renaissance buildings in the UK and has been refurbished to look as it might have done around the 1540s. Simply decorated and furnished, it recalls the years when it was the childhood home of Mary Queen of Scots. The royal chambers include the magnificent rooms where nobles and courtiers met their monarch, and the bedrooms where the royals retired with their closest companions. They are also home to brightly-painted replicas of the Stirling Heads and the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries.
The architecture is French-inspired, but the decoration is German in inspiration, and sources for the statues have been found in the work of the German engraver Hans Burgkmair. 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. Their arrangement on the north, east and south faces of the Palace has been interpreted in relation to the quarters of the heavens.
Internally, the Palace comprises two apartments, one each for the king and queen. Each has a hall, presence chamber, and bedchamber, with various small rooms known as closets. The Renaissance decoration continued inside, although little has survived the building's military use, excepting the carved stone fireplaces.
The Great Hall is the largest of its kind ever built in Scotland and was used for feasts, dances and pageants. The exterior walls are a distinctive colour, rendered in Royal Gold Harling, as they would have been in the 1500s.
Completed for James IV in 1503, the Great Hall has four pairs of tall windows at the dais end, where the king and queen sat, and was heated by five large fireplaces. There are galleries for minstrels and trumpeters. In 1594 James IV held a banquet in the hall for the baptism of his son, Prince Henry. It was so lavish that the fish course was served from an enormous model wooden ship complete with firing canons and featuring live mermaids. These extravagant celebrations are thought to be the origin of the term 'pushing the boat out'.
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| Stained glass window in the Great Hall |
The King's Old Building is the oldest part of the Inner Close. 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.
The Chapel Royal was built in just seven months on the orders of James VI who wanted somewhere suitable for the baptism of his son and heir Prince Henry. Dating from 1593-4, it was one of the first Protestant kirks in Scotland and also the last royal building at the castle. In 1603 the union of the crowns saw James head south to rule from England, and in 1625 he was succeeded by his surviving younger son, Charles I. The handsome frieze painted by Valentine Jenkin in 1628 was created in the expectation of a coronation visit to Scotland of the new king.
The stunning white, blue, red and gold altar cloths were embroidered by members of the Stirling Branch of the Embroiderers Guild. Designed by textile artists Malcolm Lochhead, they take inspiration from the waves and seascapes of the chapel's upper walls. Upon completion, the cloths were dedicated to the children and teacher who lost their lives in Dunblane Primary School in 1996. Today they are used in interdenominational worship.
Stirling Castle later became an important military base and eventually home to the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders. Some of the vaults display barrels, which once contained gunpowder. Others showcase exhibitions from the romanticisation of Scotland (encouraged largely by Sir Walter Scott) and the identity of Highlanders, to the engineering feats of Robert Stevenson and the photography of Erskine Beveridge.
Stirling Castle is a truly fascinating place and well worth a visit. Would recommend.
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