Red Castle
| Red Castle | ||
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 Red Castle of Lunan over the Lunan Water |
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| Creation time : | 13th / 15th century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg (Tower House) | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | red quarry stone - sandstone | |
| Place: | Lunan | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 39 '1.6 " N , 2 ° 30' 39" W | |
| Height: | 12 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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The Red Castle of Lunan is the ruin of a residential tower about 6.5 km south-southwest of Montrose on the coast of the Scottish County Angus .
history
The first building on this site was commissioned by King William the Lion at the end of the 12th century to fend off attacks by the Vikings on Lunan Bay . But there is also evidence that King Wilhelm stayed there on hunting trips. In 1194 King William loaned the castle and the lands around the village of Inverkeilor , 2 km east of the castle, to Walter de Berkeley , the Great Chamberlain of Scotland . After his death, the lands around Inverkeilor fell together with the castle to Ingram de Balliol , who had married the heiress of Walter de Berkeley. He had the castle rebuilt and the property remained in this family for two generations. When the grandson, also Ingram de Balliol , who worked 1280–1284, died childless around 1305, the property fell to the son of Constance de Balliol , Henry de Fishburn .
The property was forfeited during the reallocation by King Robert the Bruce to the Crown; this gave the castle to the Earl of Ross . In documents from 1286 the castle is called "rubeum castrum" (dt .: red castle), which refers to the flaming red sandstone that is typical of this area.
In 1579, James the son of Lord Gray married Lady Elizabeth Beaton , who owned the castle, and fell in love with their daughter. After Lady Beaton kicked him out, Gray (along with his brother Andrew of Dunninald ) besieged the castle for two years and eventually fumigated the residents. Since then the castle has fallen into disrepair and, although it still had a roof in parts until 1770, was never a residence for a nobleman. Its last resident was the Minister of Inverkeilor, a certain James Rait .
description
Red Castle stands on a hill above Lunan Bay on the North Sea coast . Just north of Red Castle is the mouth of Lunan Water with the Lunan settlement next to it. Only a part of the rectangular residential tower from the 15th century and the 2 meter thick eastern curtain wall have been preserved. In particular, the tower is in danger of collapsing , as it towers on the edge of a hill above Lunan Bay , and was described in 1999 as "in immediate danger of collapsing". The castle ruins are clearly visible from the A92 trunk road and the Edinburgh - Aberdeen railway line . The remains are those of the keep from the 15th century and the surrounding curtain wall, which could have been from the 13th century. A Køkkenmødding under the castle is increasingly eroding, revealing a number of artifacts that are now on display at the Montrose Museum .
The ruins are protected as a Scheduled Monument .
Individual evidence
- ^ Duchess of Cleveland: The Battle Abbey Roll with some account of the Norman Lineages . Volume 1. p. 253.
- ↑ a b c Entry on Red Castle in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
