Scotland - Day 9

The Kew House is a marvelous guest house located on the A8 in Edinburgh, six miles from the airport and a short fifteen minute walk from Princes St. We had a lovely stay. In fact, I am relatively certain, Ian, one of the two proprietors, who had been making our dinner reservations for us had been notifying the restaurant staffs of our honeymoon. We had unusually good service and free "congratulatory" drinks wherever we ate.. without our own prodding.

We woke up rested and excited about our day plans. We met Wayne and KT for breakfast, ate a hearty meal, bid the two of them a safe trip home and gave our heartfelt thanks for being there, and gathered my camera bag and warm gear before heading out to the car.

Our first stop of the day was at Linlithgow Palace. Best known as the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots, Linlithgow had been a royal residence as early as the 1100's when a manor house is believed to have occupied the land. The earliest clear reference comes with the arrival of Edward I of England in 1301 when he constructed a fortified earth and wood fortress around the original manor house. Linlithgow remained in English hands for 13 years, and was used as a residence by Edward II in October 1310. After their defeat at the Battle of Bannock Burn in 1314 the English abandoned the fortress. Since 1746, the palace has remained unroofed and uninhabited.

Linlithgow is a marvelous ruin. There are so many rooms on the six floors you can wander through that it is easy to get lost. We did.

Blackness Castle was built in the 15th century by one of Scotland's most powerful families, the Crichtons. Blackness was never destined as a peaceful lordly residence, its legacy is that of a garrison fortress and state prison. It was positioned as a defensive barrier between the coast an Linlithgow Palace.

Blackness is one of the few castles we toured that served primarily in a military capacity. It was in such a strategic location, however, that usurping navy's never wanted to destroy the building, but rather capture it. Therefore, it has survived in remarkably good condition.

This castle had more toilets than any other we visited. It was very well plumbed. It also had the most heinous "pit" prison of any of the castles. This castle served primarily as a prison for the well-to-do. Inmates housed in the keep had unusually comfortable lodging and, often, live-in butlers. The "prison" was small room located at the prow of the ship. The worst offenders were kept in the "pit", a small room located beneath the "prison". This room had one advantage the other rooms did not... it was flushed out twice daily by the tide. Hence, the human waste accumulating on the floor was washed away. The disadvantage of the pit was that the hapless prisoners found themselves up to their necks in frigid, fecal-laced water.

Blackness is also known for having hosted the filming of Mel Gibson's Hamlet.

Our third stop of the day was Stirling Castle. Stirling is located on the River Forth and occupies land that would have been strategically critical to anyone wanting to control central Scotland. As a consequence, during the castle's long and bloody history it had been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. Despite it's lengthy royal (Mary Queen of Scots grew up here) and military history, Stirling is not terribly interesting. In fact, it is almost a mirror-image of Edinburgh Castle.

The highlight of Stirling Castle was discovering Fraoch Heather Ale in the castle cafe. This sweet amber ale is Scotland's native beer, having been brewed since 2000 BC. This Scottish malt derives it's unusual flavor from one of Scotland's most abundant flowers... Heather.

We walked down the esplanade to Argyll's Lodging, home of the Duke of Argyll of the Clan Campbell. Argyll's Lodging is the most complete surviving example of a seventeenth century town house in Scotland. My favorite item in the home.. a padded purple velvet portable crapper.

From Stirling, we drove east past the William Wallace Monument toward Dollar Glen. Our next stop was interesting because the patriarch of Tracey's second family, Dr. Dollar can trace his heritage to this small hamlet tucked away in a beautiful glen in Central Scotland. We were headed to Castle Campbell, located high above the town of Dollar at the head of Dollar Glen.

A short history:
With the Burn of Care on one side and the Burn of Sorrow on the other, Castle Campbell, was originally called Castle Gloom. Castle Campbell became the chief lowland stronghold of the Campbell clan, upon whose members the successive titles of Earl, Marquis and Duke of Argyll were bestowed. The estate that was to become Castle Campbell was acquired by the family in the second half of the 1400s Century. James IV, by Act of Parliament in 1489-90, approved the change of name from Castle Gloom. The clan rose to be undisputed leaders of the Western Highlands but by the 1600s their days at Castle Campbell were numbered. When, in 1650, Oliver Cromwell defeated the Scots at the Battle of Dunbar there began a decade of turmoil. In 1654 the castle was sacked by Scots in retaliation for Argyll's support for Cromwell. The Campbell's abandoned their old castle, but continued to own the lands. When the earldom was restored in 1661 the family chose to occupy property in Stirling and settled in the town house that was to become known as Argyll's Lodging.

Castle Campbell occupies some of the most beautiful land of any of the castles we visited. It also is the only one we visited that boasted dual toilets.

We arrived at our last stop of the day at 6pm after the last tour had sailed for the day. Lochleven Castle (Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here) would have to wait for another trip.

An hour later, we collapsed on our bed at the Kew House in exhaustion. It had been a fabulous day of touring. That night we ate dinner at a fantastic Italian restaurant called Bellinni. We were one of two occupied tables and received a lot of special attention from the chef. He even brought us a complimentary celebratory shot of Lemoncella to cap off the dinner ... which wound up fertilizing the potted plant to my left. A wonderful place.