Huntingtower Castle
| Huntingtower Castle | ||
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 Huntingtower Castle |
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| Alternative name (s): | Ruthven Castle, Place of Ruthven | |
| Creation time : | 15th century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | Well | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Huntingtower | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 24 '33.5 " N , 3 ° 29' 18.7" W | |
| Height: | 35 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Huntingtower Castle , formerly Ruthven Castle or Place of Ruthven , is a low castle in the village of Huntingtower on the A85 and near the A9 , about 5 km northwest of the center of the city of Perth in the Scottish administrative unit Perth and Kinross .
history
Huntingtower Castle was built by the Ruthven clan in various stages of construction since the 15th century and was known for many centuries under the name "House of Ruthven" or "Place ('Palace') of Ruthven". In the summer of 1502 the 4th Lord Ruthven and 1st Earl of Gowrie and his family lived in the castle. He was in a conspiracy to kidnap the young King James VI. , the son of Maria Stuart . In the course of 1582 Lord Ruthven and his companions seized the young king and held him prisoner for 10 months. This kidnapping is called the " Raid of Ruthven " and the Protestant conspirators hoped to gain more power by taking control of the king. King Jacob eventually escaped and actually forgave Lord Ruthven, but after a second coup attempt by him and other nobles, he was finally executed and his possessions (including Huntingtower Castle) were forfeited to the crown.
In 1586 the land and the castle were returned to the Ruthven family. But in 1600 the brothers John and Alexander Ruthven were involved in another conspiracy to assassinate King James VI. entangled and executed. This time the king was less gracious: he not only confiscated the Ruthvens' possessions, but also abolished the title of "Lord Ruthven" and decreed that no descendant of the family could hold any titles or own any land. The Ruthven house ceased to exist by royal decree, and the castle was renamed "Huntingtower". Huntingtower Castle remained in possession of the crown until 1643 when it was loaned to the Murray family of Tullibardine , from which the Dukes of Atholl and Mansfield descended.
John Murray, 1st Duke of Atholl , resided at the castle, where his wife, Lady Mary Ross , bore him a son on February 7, 1717. After Lady Mary's death in 1767, the castle began to fall into disrepair and was abandoned as a residence, with the exception of being used as accommodation for farm workers. The last inhabitants of the castle were the family of the castle keeper Niel Cowan . The Cowan family, consisting of Niel, Margaret, Alexander and Lorraine, left the castle in late 2002.
Today Huntingtower Castle is open to visitors for a fee and sometimes serves as a wedding venue. The castle is managed by Historic Scotland as a Scheduled Monument .
architecture
The original "Huntingtower" (now called "East Tower") was a free-standing building that mainly served as a gatehouse . It had three floors and an attic. Around the end of the 15th century, a second tower (the "West Tower") was built next to the Huntingtower at a distance of about 3 meters. This second tower had an L-shaped floor plan and was connected to the Huntingtower by a wooden bridge below the level of the battlements . It is thought that this construction was used for defense: if the tower were attacked and captured, the residents could flee to the second tower and pull up the drawbridge between the two. The space between the two towers was filled in at the end of the 17th century, so that today's castle was built. At the same time, the number and size of the windows were greatly increased, especially in the west tower.
A knight's hall was added to the north side of the west tower in the 16th century, but nothing of this has survived above ground except for an attachment to the roof on the tower. The defensive walls that once enclosed the castle and probably some outbuildings have also disappeared today.
Particularly interesting are the paintings from the beginning of the 16th century in Huntingtower Castle, which have been preserved on the first floor of the east tower. They are fragments of wall paintings on which flowers, animals and biblical scenes can be seen, a mostly complete ornamental scheme on a wooden ceiling. Among the paintings are grotesque animals (for example, a version of the Green Man ) on the main girders and Renaissance- style knotwork patterns on the boards above. This painted ceiling is believed to be one of the earliest of its kind, and most of it has survived in Scotland. Smaller fragments of wall paintings have been preserved in the west tower.
Lady Greensleeves and other legends
Huntingtower Castle is said to be haunted by "Lady Greensleeves", a young woman named Dorothea , the daughter of the 1st Earl of Gowrie. Legend has it that she fell in love with a servant in the castle and that the two secretly met at night in the east tower, where the servants slept. One night the girl's mother, the countess, is said to have discovered what was going on and snuck from the family's bedrooms in the west tower over the bridge into the east tower to catch the couple. Dorothea, however, heard her mother crossing the bridge and, since the way over the bridge was blocked for her, tried to get back over the roof to the other tower. She jumped from the roof of the east tower and landed safely on the battlements of the west tower. Then she returned to her bed, where her mother found her. The distance between the two towers was several meters, so she accomplished quite a feat with the jump. The following day, the girl and her lover ran away, not knowing what to do next.
Over the years has heard of some sightings of the figure of a young woman in a green silk dress on and around Huntingtower Castle, usually at dusk but sometimes in full daylight. Her appearance is said to be a bad omen and a warning of impending doom. A traveler who stayed at Huntingtower Castle in the 1930s is said to have seen Lady Greensleeves in a corridor of the castle. The next day he continued his journey to Fife and drowned when he fell off the ferry across the Tay .
Another legend of Huntingtower Castle relates to St Conval's Well , a fountain on the road below the castle. The water in this fountain is said to have healing powers, but those who draw it must do so in silence: every word spoken on the way there or back should render the water ineffective. Those who fetch the water should also leave a small gift at the well, such as a coin or a talisman. The well is in good condition to this day and provides clear water.
Famous pepole
In the 14th century, under the then name Ruthven Castle, the castle was the last manor of Alexander Stewart, 1st Earl of Buchan . James Ogilvy, 7th Earl of Findlater , who last lived in Dresden, was born in Huntingtower in 1750. Civil engineer George Turnbull grew up nearby. He was the chief engineer in the construction of the first railway from Calcutta (then the trading capital of India ) over 867 km to Benares on the way to New Delhi .
Individual evidence
- ↑ HMC: Mss of the Duke of Athole . London 1891. pp. 70-71.
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ^ George Turnbull, CE 437-page memoir, privately published 1893. British Library, London. With many references to Huntingtower Castle.
swell
- Nigel Tranter: Tales and Traditions of Scottish Castles . Neil Wilson Publishing Ltd.
- Stuart Reid: Castles and Tower Houses of the Scottish Clans 1450-1650 . Osprey.
- Grant Campbell: Scottish Hauntings . Piccolo.
- Samuel Cowan (Editor): The Ruthven family papers: the Ruthven version of the conspiracy and assassination at Gowrie House, Perth, August 5, 1600 . 1912.
