In the event that you’ve ever seen a present-day Disney film (or, like me, observed the ancient Walt Disney Appear on TV developing up), you’ll know that the company symbol could be a daydream castle of turrets and towers. Did you know that Disney’s Tall Tale Castle was based on a really genuine Scottish castle? Though no castle in Scotland can compete with the fantasy Disney castle, a couple come close! Here’s our look at the most excellent of Scotland’s very genuine fable castles.
Dunrobin Castle, Sutherland
You may contend that most of these castles are stately homes instead of genuine castles, in spite of the fact that a few of them started as medieval posts or braced houses and were continuously rebuilt over the centuries to require a castellated, tall tale look.
1. Fyvie Castle, Aberdeenshire
Fyvie Castle is the ideal Scottish baronial castle, with an entrance protected by a yett, or press door. The castle started as a regal holdup, and William the Lion held a Parliament at Fyvie in 1214. Other rulers to visit Fyvie include Alexander II (1222), Edward I of Britain (1296), and Robert Bruce in 1308. The Preston family built the oldest surviving portion of the current castle, a tower at the southeast corner.
Within the 15th century, Sir Alexander Meldrum added another tower at the southwest corner. The Seton family included the amazing primary entrance, flanked by drum towers. The Setons supported the Jacobite cause and were banned in 1690. At that point, Fyvie passed to the Gordon family, Earls of Aberdeen, who built another tower. Finally, in 1885, Alexander Forbes-Leith acquired Fyvie. He and his American spouse, however, built another tower to complete the castellated exterior we see nowadays. They too reestablished the castle in an opulent fashion. Fyvie is said to be frequented by at least two phantoms. The ‘Green Lady’ is said to be the apparition of Lilian Drummond, who was starved to death by her spouse in 1601.
The momentary ghost is dubbed the Dim Woman
In the 1920s, laborers doing repairs made a grim disclosure. They revealed the bones of a lady who had been fixed to a wall. The bones were given a legitimate burial within the nearby churchyard, but the apparition of the Dark Woman frequented the castle until her bones were burrowed up once more and supplanted the interior dividers, whereupon sightings of the soul ceased.
The eminent castle gardens could be an extraordinary cultivation region devoted to a medieval soothsayer named Thomas Rhymer. According to legend, Rhymer was on his way to Fyvie one day when a blast of wind blew down a tree, and he was struck by a falling tree. Rhymer flew into a rage and reviled Fyvie and its proprietors. The cultivate is an endeavor to pacify Rhymer’s soul and soften the impacts of the revile.
2. Braemar Castle, Aberdeenshire
Braemar Castle may be a pleasant, invigorated tower house adjacent to the Waterway Dee. It was started in 1628 for the Earl of Mar as a chase holdup. It too served to guard the Damage bequests against the neighboring Farquharson clan of Inverey.
The castle is reached through the pass of Glen Derry and through the Cairngorms to Strathspey.
The Earl of Mar’s castle was a fabled fortification on an L-plan, with battlemented towers and turrets ensured inside a star-shaped window ornament divider. In 1689, ‘Bonnie’ Dundee attempted unsuccessfully to capture the castle. The government came to the Earl of Mar’s aid by sending royal dragoons to defend Braemar.
But they might not ensure the castle against John Farquharson, the ‘Black Colonel’ of Inverey. Farquharson assaulted Braemar Castle and forced the government officers to escape. At that point, he burned the castle to the ground. But it would not be long until, sometime recently, the Jacobite cause called Braemar Castle to war. In 1714, George I came to the position of royalty and instantly rejected numerous of the most effective priests within the past government. Among them was John Erskine, Earl of Damage.
The Earl was enraged, and after a year, the Earl of Mar raised the Jacobite standard at Braemar and broadcast James VIII and III as the legitimate rulers of the domain. Too bad for the Earl; the Jacobite Rising was short-lived, and he was constrained to escape banishment.
The castle was presently nearly ruinous, but protection was at hand
The Farquharson family obtained it in 1732. The modern Farquharson laird denied requiring a portion in Bonnie Ruler Charlie’s ‘Forty-Five’ disobedience, and as a result, Jacobites burned the bequest. The Farquharsons had had sufficient.
The laird moved to Edinburgh and rented the castle to the crown. Thankfully, the government did not let Braemar Castle rot but called upon John Adam, one of the preeminent designers of the day, to reestablish and repair the upper floors. The result may be an enchantment. Highlights include the 18th-century kitchen and ‘laird’s pit’ or cell, the eating room and drawing rooms on the primary floor, and family rooms on the second floor. Braemar Castle is said to be frequented by the ghost of an unused bride who thought, wrongly, that her spouse had repented of their marriage and had left her. She cast herself off the best of the castle in despair, and nowadays her spirit is said to frequent the grounds.
3. Craigievar Castle, Aberdeenshire
Craigievar Castle is said to be the motivation for the Disney fairytale castle, and once you see it, you’ll know why Walt Disney utilized it as the show for his imaginary medieval castle. Be that as it may, Craigievar isn’t a castle at all but an invigorated tower house dating to at least the 14th century. The Mortimer family possessed the Craigievar estate in 1376, but it was not until 1575 that Sir John Mortimer changed the medieval family domestic into the noteworthy tower house we see today, with its multiplication of towers and funnel-shaped turrets.
Sir John’s house started as a fairly plain design, rising in straight lines to the height of the 4th story. The Mortimers were a Catholic family, so Sir John built a chapel into the house but made it beyond doubt that no trace of it might be seen from outside.
In 1610, Craigievar was obtained by William Forbes of Menie.
Forbes had made a fortune by bringing in wood from the Baltic region. In the interest of his trade, he went by the Baltic port of Danzig so regularly that he got to be known locally as ‘Danzig Willie’. Forbes married Margaret Woodward, and their initials can be found all through the castle. Danzig Willie evacuated the upper floors of Craigievar and modified them on an amazing scale. The upper floors have a larger footprint than the lower floors, so he used a framework of extravagantly carved corbels to back the upper chambers, which he topped with funnel-shaped turrets and saw platforms with balustrades. The impact is stunning and combines conventional Scottish architecture with Renaissance fashion.
Forbes brightened the insides of his chateau with resplendent plasterwork ceilings decorated with heraldic symbols. One of Danzig Willie’s relatives was ‘Red’ Sir John Forbes, his grandson, whose moniker referred both to his ruddy hair and his rough temper. That temper gave Craigievar its resident apparition. According to the story, Sir John’s girl fell in love with a member of the Gordon family, ancient adversaries of the Forbes clan.
The suitor snuck into Craigievar for a romantic tryst by climbing the castle divider to the Blue Room on the fourth floor. Rather than the laird’s girl, he was gone up against by Ruddy Sir John, who put a sword to the youthful man’s throat and constrained him to bounce from the window. The youthful man passed on from the drop, and ever since that game-changing night, spooky strides can be heard crossing the Blue Room to the window.
4. Inveraray Castle, Argyll
An exceptional fairytale castle is a similarly extraordinary setting. Inveraray Castle has been the seat of Clan Campbell since the 15th century. The castle is set in an idyllic setting adjacent to Loch Fyne. Within the mid-15th century, Sir Duncan Campbell moved the Campbell family seat from the head of Loch Amazement to Inveraray on Loch Fyne, where he built a little castle. That medieval fortress was basically unaltered for over two centuries. Sometime recently, the 2nd Duke of Argyll decided that he required something grander to reflect his wealth and status.
The astonishing concoction of Gothic, Extravagant, and Palladian fashion we see nowadays is the result of a thought portrayed by John Vanbrugh, the planner of Blenheim Royal Residence, for the 2nd Duke. Shockingly, Vanbrugh died before construction could start. It was left to the 3rd Duke to call upon William Adam and Roger Morris to plan the modern family situation.
Development on Inveraray Castle began in 1743 but was not wrapped up for a long time
Morris and Adam kicked the bucket long before the castle was completed, so the work was finished by Adam’s popular planner sons, John and Robert. The castle is built on a rectangular plan with a crenelated tower at the center and circular towers at each corner. The modern house bristles with mock-military highlights, counting turrets, moats, and opening windows.
The Dukes of Argyll showered money on Inveraray, provoking Dr. Johnson to type in, ‘What I respect here is the overall defiance of expense’. The Dukes had the town of Inveraray torn down and modified in its display area to provide an uninterrupted view from the house. The castle’s contributions are implied to inspire and wonder guests. The Campbells needed guests to be overwhelmed by their family domestic, and it shows. The addition highlights a fabulous collection of furniture, embroidered works of art, fine craftsmanship, and dazzling plasterwork ceilings. Search for the Tapestry Drawing Room, with ornate 1773 ceilings made of papier-mache.
5. Ballindalloch Castle, Aberdeenshire
Ballindalloch Castle is a romantic castellated house within the heart of Aberdeenshire’s bourbon nation. The tall tale castle has been named ‘The Pearl of the North’ for great reason. It has been the home of the Macpherson-Grant family since 1546. The core of Ballindalloch is a Z-plan tower house. The fortified tower house was gravely damaged by the Marquis of Montrose following the Fight of Inverlochy in 1645, and it was changed within the 1770s by Colonel James Grant, a career officer and diplomat.
The grant must have considered himself a man of taste and culture; he set aside a whole wing of the house for his French chef. Ballindalloch is where Aberdeen Angus cattle were first bred, and you will frequently see cattle brushing in the area just past the house. The interiors of Ballindalloch are extravagantly outfitted and feature a brilliant collection of 17th-century Spanish paintings. You might ponder why the castle was built in such a low-lying position close to the confluence of the Spey and Avon.
According to legend, the Macpherson-Grant laird started to construct on a slope, neglecting the waterway, but his unfinished house was blown down in a hurricane. The laird then heard a voice telling him to construct within the ‘coo-haugh’, or dairy animal glade, next to the river. He took the mysterious message, and Ballindalloch is the result.
6. Glamis Castle, Angus
Glamis Castle (pronounced ‘Glams’) is the childhood home of Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the former Queen Mother. But there’s much more to Glamis than its royal affiliations. The castle dates to at least the 14th century when Robert II of Scotland gave the bequest to John Lyon, the 1st Ruler of Glamis. Lyon built an invigorated tower house, supplanting a prior house on the location. This late 14th-century tower house still shapes the center of Glamis Castle today.
Centuries of renovating and extending the tower house created the huge, castellated house we see today. Glamis Castle looks like a French chateau, with all its towers and funnel-shaped turrets. The inside is sublimely brightened in opulent fashion, with the lion image of the Lyon family enhancing each chamber except the chapel. Glamis is rumored to be the most frequented castle in Britain. Among the different phantoms detailed are those of two gamblers destined to play cards until the end of time because they dared play on the Sabbath. Another apparition is said to be the phantom of Janet Douglas, Woman Glamis, who