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Have you ever explored a real castle? At Stirling Castle you are free to wander the grounds, climb the ramparts, explore the dungeons and scullery, and imagine attending a great banquet in one of the most impressive medieval great halls anywhere. Want armor, weapons, cannons, and ghosts? Stirling Castle has them all. Come along for the adventure!

          Mary Queen of Scots slept around a lot. There’s barely a castle in all of Scotland, it seems, that doesn’t claim at least a one-night-stand from the ex teenage Queen of France, controversial Queen of Scotland, and would-be Queen of England. It’s not that Mary was pursuing; it’s that she was being pursued: by Scots, by English, and, eventually, by Scots and English together. The pursuits started early. At 8-months-old Queen Mary I of Scotland was first hidden from pursuers sent by English King Henry VIII who wanted Mary for an arranged marriage to the king’s 5-year-old son, the future King Edward VI. Mary’s French mother, Mary of Guise, wished no such union imposed upon her daughter and the French and Scottish royal lines, so she ran away with

Mary Queen of Scots and her
son, James VI of Scotland, who
became King James I of England.
Both knew Stirling Castle very
well. Painting from 1583.

the baby queen to the safest place she could think of in Scotland, Stirling Castle. There the royal infant was hidden for a month until her coronation ceremony at the castle’s Chapel Royal on September 9, 1543.
 

The royal residence (the Palace)
at Stirling Castle. Scottish
 monarchs lived at the castle
from the early 1100's until
James VI became King James I
of England and relocated
to London and Windsor.

          Mary Queen of Scots is not the only Scottish icon associated with Stirling Castle. William Wallace and his army of Highlanders (and others) beat back King Edward I’s (Longshanks’s) English army at Stirling Bridge, almost in the shadow of the castle in 1297. One generation later Wallace’s royal protégée, Robert the Bruce, finished off the English to finally win independence for Scotland at Bannockburn just outside of Stirling. After The Bruce, most Scottish kings and queens maintained residence at Stirling Castle, returning to a tradition started by King Alexander I shortly after the castle was built in the early 12th century on the site that had been used as a fortress for centuries.             Photo courtesy Shirley Barnes

          The timing of the enlarging and strengthening of the fortress above Stirling is obvious: the ambitious Normans who had just conquered England at the end of the 11th century were doubtless eyeing Scotland just as they were conquering Wales and Ireland. The key to conquering Scotland is to hold the high ground at the crossroads of the country, Stirling, where the Highlands and Lowlands meet at the crossing of the River Forth. The high ground above the Forth is high indeed: Castle Hill is a volcanic outcropping jutting dramatically above the flat river valley with near vertical rocky escarpments on three sides. The fourth side is a sharply sloping ramp leading up from the old town of Stirling to the heavily fortified gates of the castle.

Looking north from the walls of
 Stirling Castle to the Trossachs OF
Central Scotland. The Highlands
meet the Lowlands at Stirling.
Photo courtesy Shirley Barnes

Guarding the keys to SCOTLAND— cannons at Stirling Castle
still look down on the
Forth Valley below.
Photo courtesy Shirley Barnes

          Stirling Castle is famed as a royal residence. But its first importance has always been as a fortress. The army possessing Stirling Castle possesses the keys to Scotland. As such, no castle north of England has such strategic importance. Edinburgh Castle may hold the high ground of the Scottish capital, and Inverness Castle the high ground above the capital of the Highlands, but Stirling Castle guards the crossroads of the nation. No wonder Longshanks brought in his secret weapon the Warwolf trebuchet (catapult) for the siege of Stirling. The great warrior King of England knew Stirling held the keys to the country. But six years after Edward I routed Wallace’s Scots at Falkirk it took four months and

Siege warfare is not kind to architecture. After seeing its value to the English King, Robert the Bruce had Stirling Castle destroyed after gaining Scottish independence in the 14th century. Seven centuries later not much of the original 12th century castle remains. Some parts of the 14th century rebuild are still in place, but most of what visitors encounter today at Stirling dates from the 15th and 16th centuries or later. The imposing castellated gatehouse dates from the time of Columbus, and continues to serve as entrance to Stirling Castle. It was ordered built by King James IV, who lived at the castle and hunted and played golf 500 years ago in the grounds at the base of the castle’s vertical cliffs. Because the castle was built and rebuilt over seven centuries, its architectural style varies considerably. However, Stirling Castle is best known for its renaissance and late-gothic portions, especially for its Great Hall — also built during the reign of James IV — that was restored to its original medieval grandeur in 1999 after 500 years of use for medieval feasts, royal audiences, and as a military barracks. The royal residence portion (the palace, itself currently under restoration) of the castle

The castellated gatehouse
guards the entrance to the
inner grounds of the castle.
Originally built 500 years ago
by King James IV, the gatehouse
was badly damaged by
Cromwell's siege during the
Civil War 150 years later.
Behind the gatehouse is James
IV's Great Hall. The gatehouse
and other 16th century fortifications were
originally covered in the
same bright limestone coating and could be seen for miles.
Photo courtesy Shirley Barnes

dates principally from the 16th century and is ranked with Scotland’s most important architecture for the quality of its late medieval craftsmanship.

Great HALL INTERIOR
showing the elaborate
hammerbeam ceiling.

          There is still a Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle, but this one replaced the medieval chapel where Mary Queen of Scots was crowned almost 500 years ago. The new chapel was built in renaissance style by Mary’s son, King James VI of Scotland for the baptism of his son and heir, Henry, Prince of Wales. In one of the castle’s great historic ironies, Mary and Henry never realized their highest ambitions, despite the expectations placed upon them as infants at Stirling Castle. Mary, viewed as a dangerous traitor by powerful Scottish countrymen and her even more powerful cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England, was hunted down, jailed and ultimately beheaded. Prince Henry, Mary’s grandson, showed great promise as heir to the thrones of Scotland and England, but died before he inherited either, from sickness (possibly typhoid fever) at 18 years of age. It is Henry’s father, Mary’s son, James VI of Scotland who ultimately claimed the keys to Stirling Castle, and to Windsor Castle as well, as King James

INTERIOR of the CHAPEL ROYAL. NOTE
THE WOODEN BARREL VAULTED CEILING.
Photo courtesy Shirley Barnes