Loch Leven Castle
| Loch Leven Castle | ||
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 West side with main tower (seaward) |
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| Creation time : | 13th Century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg ( Inselburg ) | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 12 '2.9 " N , 3 ° 23' 31.4" W | |
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Loch Leven Castle (also: Lochleven Castle ) is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven in the Scottish administrative unit ( Council Area ) Perth and Kinross in the east of the Central Lowlands . The largely completed during the 14th century and partially ruined in the 18th century castle with its characteristic five-story tower house or keep is in the traditional county Kinross-shire . The closest location is the town of Kinross, about two kilometers away . The castle achieved greater fame through the captivity and escape of Maria Stuart in 1567/68.
history
Loch Leven Castle was probably built in the second half of the 13th century and was initially a royal castle. As early as the end of the century, due to its strategic location between Edinburgh , Stirling and Perth, it became a hotly contested location in the First Scottish War of Independence (1296-1328). Initially the English managed to occupy the castle, but before 1300 the Scots were able to recapture the fortress , possibly under the leadership of William Wallace . Before that, the occupiers probably gave it its name and a first extension of the fortifications. In the following years the castle was besieged several times by English troops. In 1301 the siege was crushed by the relief provided by John Comyn , Guardian of Scotland . At least twice, in 1313 and 1323, King Robert I , better known by the Scottish name of Robert the Bruce , visited Loch Leven Castle. In the course of the protracted quarrels about the succession to the throne after Bruce's death, the English again besieged the castle unsuccessfully in 1335, this time in support of the English aspirant Edward Balliol .
In 1372 Robert II gave Loch Leven Castle to William, Earl of Douglas . From then on, the castle and the lordship were owned by the Douglas for around 300 years . Around 1400, the castle was expanded to include its current defense and residential tower, which is one of the oldest still largely preserved towers of this type in Scotland. In 1458 it became the first ancestral home of the Earl of Morton (a newly conferred title to a branch of the Douglas family). After the Earls of Morton had relocated their headquarters to Aberdour Castle in the 1590s , the complex fell into disrepair.
From the 14th century, the castle was also used as a state prison, where many illustrious prisoners were housed; so around 1369 Robert Stewart, High Steward of Scotland and later King Robert II. The most legendary captivity is certainly that of Mary Stuart. In 1563 she met John Knox at Loch Leven Castle as the reigning and free Queen of Scotland . Four years later she returned as a prisoner and was now under the supervision of her former host, the lord of the castle, William of Lochleven . After eleven months of imprisonment, she managed to escape spectacularly in May 1568, around which numerous literarily created or processed myths entwine; by way of example, reference is made here to The Abbot by Sir Walter Scott . Maria's escape from the Inselburg is also a popular topic for the film and television entertainment industry .
In the second half of the 16th century, William of Lochleven had the Newhouse of Lochleven manor house completed, which gradually replaced the castle as the center of the estate until it fell into disrepair in the 17th century and was demolished in 1723. In 1675, Scottish architect William Bruce acquired the crumbling castle and land on the mainland. He restored Loch Leven Castle and ensured its preservation as a picturesque point de vue ('viewpoint') of his garden, even after he had started construction of the stately Kinross House on the opposite bank of Loch Leven in 1686 . With the death of Sir William in 1710, Loch Leven Castle fell into disrepair again in the 18th century; This decline was only stopped as a result of early tourist interest through conservation and cultivation measures from 1840 onwards.
Literary consideration
One of the early tourists of the 19th century was Theodor Fontane , who on his journey to Scotland , which was poetically processed in the Beyond the Tweed , in the summer of 1858 also visited "Lochleven Castle, which is much-mentioned in song and legend" and set a literary monument for him. So he wrote three years later in the foreword to the hikes through the Mark Brandenburg that were stimulated by the sight of the "Douglas Castle" :
“We came from the town of Kinross, on the shores of Lake Leven, and rowed towards the island. Our boat moored at the same spot where the Queen's boat had been that night, we strode across the courtyard, slowly, as if we were still looking for footprints in the tall grass, and then leaned over the parapet on which one the old Lady Douglas had confessed and followed the chase of the two boats, the fleeting one and the pursuing one. Then we circumnavigated the island and steered our boat back to Kinross, but the eye did not want to separate itself from the island, on whose rubble gray the afternoon sun and a wistful, ineffable silence lay. "
Importance and Tourism
Loch Leven Castle has been listed in Category A of the Scottish Monument Classification since 1971 and is therefore classified as a nationally or internationally significant architectural monument; it is also a protected archaeological site ( Scheduled Monument ) . From the beginning of April to the end of October there is a boat delivery service during the opening times of the castle to visit the castle ruins on castle island . From Kinross town center in the west of Loch Levens, the route to the ferry landing stage, which is a good kilometer away, and the adjacent car park are well signposted. Loch Leven Castle has been one of the most historic buildings in Scotland since 1939, the maintenance and management of which is carried out centrally by the Scottish authority Historic Scotland ; In addition, it is one of the few historical places in Scotland that is said to be haunted by the ghost of Maria Stuart.
In the nearby Kinross, visitors to the castle will find the usual small-town and tourist infrastructure. The M90 motorway runs directly past Loch Leven at Kinross; the nearest train station is at Cowdenbeath , 14 km away , and Edinburgh International Airport is just 25 miles away.
Web links
- Official site at Historic Scotland (English)
- Loch Leven Castle at scottish-castles.de (German)
- Lochleven Castle at Undiscovered Scotland (English)
- Lochleven Castle at Gazetteer for Scotland (English)
- Castle Lochleven , clear, somewhat romantic drawing of the (former) castle complex
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Loch Leven Castle. Gazetteer for Scotland, accessed August 10, 2013 .
- ↑ Other sources say that the Douglas only received the castle in 1390; possibly the act only came into force (in full) with Robert's death in the same year.
- ^ Royal visitors - and royal prisoners. Historic Scotland . Retrieved August 11, 2013 .
- ↑ The Douglas Archives : William of Lochleven, 6th Earl of Morton , accessed January 20, 2014
- ^ Leven, Loch (history). Gazetteer for Scotland, accessed August 10, 2013 .
- ↑ Lochleven Castle. Undiscovered Scotland, accessed 8 August 2013 .
- ↑ Preface to the first edition : “Only the foreign teaches us what we have about our homeland.” I experienced that on myself, and the first suggestions for these “walks through the Mark” came to me when I wandered abroad . The suggestions became a wish, the wish became a decision. It was in the Scottish County of Kinross, the most beautiful point of which is Lake Leven. In the middle of the lake there is an island, and in the middle of the island, half hidden behind ash and black fir, rises an old Douglas castle, the Lochleven Castle, which is much-known in song and legend. ”Fontane goes on to explain that when he rowed back to Kinross, suddenly the no less beautiful memory of a day at his native Rheinsberg Castle fulfilled and this was the first decision to take his wanderings through the Mark Brandenburg .
- ^ Theodor Fontane : Foreword to the first edition. Project Gutenberg , accessed on July 17, 2020 .
- ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Overview. Historic Scotland, accessed August 10, 2013 .
- ↑ Lochleven Castle. www.whichcastle.com, 2010, accessed August 10, 2013 .
- ^ Haunted trail of Mary, Queen of Scots. The Scotsman , December 8, 2005, accessed August 12, 2013 .