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Falkland Palace, By Stephencdickson - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Many visitors to Scotland will make a point of seeing Edinburgh Castle, and deservedly so. Edinburgh Castle is a landmark building in Scotland's capital city, with an ancient and eventful history, impressive buildings, and excellent visitor facilities. However, in this post, I want to highlight three historic buildings, which are slightly less well-known, but very worth visiting.
The first is Stirling Castle. Stirling lies in the centre of Scotland, a bit north to the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Some people call the town the gateway to the Highlands. Stirling Castle itself, like Edinburgh Castle. is also an ancient site and important royal centre.
By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51288524
During the renaissance, the castle was used as a royal palace, and you can see fine examples of architecture and interior decoration, some of it restored.
By DeFacto - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54664260
By Kim Traynor - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18388360
As you can see, Stirling castle is a splendid building; it has a lot of heritage and connections with important people like James IV and V, Mary of Guise, and Mary, Queen of Scots.
The second interesting Scottish building which I would like to highlight is Fort George. This is an eighteenth century garrison, built at Ardersier in the Highlands of Scotland, in 1748. This fortress was built after the Jacobite rising of 1745-6; its purpose was to house government troops, perhaps 1600 men, to subdue the Highlands. In fact, Fort George was part of a complex of roads and military buildings, including Fort William and Fort Augustus, which were built during the time of the Jacobites. The building itself is largely open to the public, and is one of the finest examples of an eighteenth century artillery fort.
The building itself with its massive and complex defences, is largely open to the public, and is one of the finest examples of an eighteenth century artillery fort.
By Stephen Branley, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13964716
The third and final Scottish building worth visiting, is the one which is pictured at the top of this post, Falkland Palace. Falkland Palace lies in the pretty village of Falkland, in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland, a bit north of Edinburgh. This is another favourite royal residence of the Stewart monarchy. The palace had its heyday in the renaissance, with hunting, falconry, and the oldest tennis court in Britain, dating from 1541. This building has a more rural feel than Stirling castle, and contains elegant architecture.
By Smart Community Fife from Scotland - Falkland Palace, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9537289
I hope that you have enjoyed this brief tour of three of the less known gems of Scotland. These buildings and interesting in themselves, but they also tell us a lot about Scottish history. If you would like to find out more about history, then feel free to try one of my history lessons!Vocabulary:
landmark - an easily noticed building which marks a place
garrison - soldiers in a fortified place; the fortified place which holds the troops
besiege - to surround a place, often with an army, to make the place surrender; the noun is siege
Jacobite - supporter of the Stewart as opposed to the Hanoverian monarchy
heyday - the period of something's greatest success or prosperity
falconry - using trained birds of prey to hunt, an aristocratic pastime
Main post image, Falkland Palace, By Stephencdickson - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=95677874
http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB1721
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland
http://portal.historicenvironment.scot/designation/LB1721
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stirling_Castle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falkland_Palace
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_George,_Highland
