- For ships named after the castle, see Stirling Castle (disambiguation)
Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally, in Scotland. Stirling ( Gaelic: Sruighlea, Scots: Stirlin) is a city and former ancient Burgh in Scotland, and is at A castle is a defensive structure seen as one of the main symbols of the Middle Ages. Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. The Castle sits atop the Castle Hill, a volcanic crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological formation. A crag (sometimes spelled cragg, or in Scotland craig) is a rocky hill or mountain generally isolated from other high ground The Stirling Sill is the outcropping of a large Quartz-dolerite intrusion or Sill similar to those which underly a large part of central Scotland, and may It is surrounded on three sides by steep cliffs, giving it a strong defensive position. Its strategic location, guarding the crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times. The Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, and is managed by Historic Scotland. In the United Kingdom, a Scheduled Monument is a 'nationally important' Archaeological site or historic building given protection against unauthorised change Historic Scotland is an Executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.
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History
Most of the principal buildings of the Castle date from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A few structures of the fourteenth century remain, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century. In the 13th Century Edward I's Scottish campaign included a siege on Stirling Castle. Edward I (17 June 1239 – 7 July 1307 popularly known as Longshanks, was a King of England who achieved historical fame by conquering large parts of Wales and almost Scotland ( Gaelic: Alba) is a Country in northwest Europethat occupies the northern third of the island of Great Britain. Historians recorded that this was where Warwolf, the largest trebuchet believed built, was first used, with devastating effect. Warwolf, or War Wolf or Ludgar ( Loup de Guerre) is believed to be the largest Trebuchet ever made A trebuchet or trebucket is a Siege engine that was employed in the Middle Ages either to smash Masonry Walls or to throw [1]
There have been several other sieges of Stirling Castle since the Wars of Scottish Independence, the last being in 1746, when Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie", and his Jacobite force unsuccessfully tried to take the castle. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, a strategically important fortification in Stirling, Scotland. The Wars of Scottish Independence were a series of military campaigns fought between the Kingdom of Scotland and the Kingdom of England in the late 13th For the US politician see Charles E Stuart For "Betty Burke" see The 'Forty-Five' below Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543. The monarch of Scotland was the Head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland.
From 1800 until 1964 the Castle was owned by the British Army and run as a barracks. The British Army is the land armed forces branch of the British Armed Forces. Many alterations were made to the Great Hall, which became an accommodation block; the Chapel Royal, which became a lecture theatre and dining hall; the King's Old Building, which became an infirmary; and the Royal Palace, which became the Officer's Mess. Efforts to restore all these buildings to their original state are still ongoing. A number of new buildings were also constructed, including the prison and powder magazine, at the Nether Bailey, in 1810. Stirling Castle remains the headquarters of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, although the regiment is no longer garrisoned there. The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders was an Infantry Regiment of the British Army, part of the Scottish Division. The regimental museum is also located within the castle.
Since January 2002, the Tapestry Studio at West Dean College has been working on a recreation of The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries. The Hunt of the Unicorn is a series of seven tapestries dating from 1495 &ndash 1505. The tapestries will be displayed in the Queen's Presence Chamber at Stirling Castle, part of a project to furnish the Castle as it would have been in the 16th century. Historians studying the reign of James IV believe that a similar series of 'Unicorn' tapestries were part of the royal collection. The team at West Dean Tapestry visited The Museum of Modern Art, New York to inspect the originals and researched into medieval techniques, the colour palette and materials. The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, USA, on 53rd Street between Fifth This project is due for completion in 2014. The weavers are working both at West Dean, West Sussex and at Stirling Castle. For the hamlet of West Dean in East Sussex see Cuckmere Valley West Dean is a Village and Civil parish in the
The castle
The gatehouse providing entry from the outer defences to the Castle proper was erected by King James IV, and originally formed part of a "fore-front", extending across the whole width of the Rock. James IV ( 17 March 1473 &ndash 9 September 1513) was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death At either end of this were rectangular blockhouses, and in the centre, flanking the gateway, were four round towers or "rounds", with conical roofs. In Military science, a blockhouse is a small isolated Fort in the form of a single building Of this composition, there remains the southern blockhouse, or Prince's Tower (now attached to the later Palace), the adjoining length of curtain wall, the gateway and lower portion of the inner rounds, and vestiges of the outer rounds and northern blockhouse.
To the left of the gatehouse, and forming the south side of the principal or upper court, is the Palace block. This was begun by James IV, but is mainly the work of King James V. James V (10 April 1512 &ndash 14 December 1542 was King of Scots from 9 September 1513 until his death With its combination of renaissance and late gothic detail, it is one of the most architecturally impressive buildings in Scotland, covered with fine stonework. Renaissance architecture is the architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 17th centuries in different regions of Europe in which there was a See also Gothic art Gothic architecture is a style of Architecture which flourished during the high and late medieval period. The ceiling of the King’s Presence Chamber was originally decorated with the famous portrait roundels known as The Stirling Heads, but these were taken down in 1777. Many of them are preserved in the Castle, some in the Smith Institute, Stirling, and others in the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh. National Museums Scotland is the family of several National museums in Scotland. Edinburgh ( ˈɛdɪnb(ərə Dùn Èideann) is the Capital of Scotland and is its second largest city after Glasgow. There are plans to eventually re-instate the ceiling as close to its original form as possible.
On the east side of the upper court is the Great Hall, built by James IV, and restored to its original appearance in 1999 after many decades' use as a barracks. It is 125 feet long and 36 feet wide, with a completely restored hammerbeam roof, and two oriel windows flanking the dais at the southern end. A foot (plural feet or foot; symbol or abbreviation ft or sometimes &prime – the prime symbol) is a non-SI unit Hammerbeam roof, in Architecture, the name given to a Gothic open Timber Roof, of which the finest example is that over Westminster Oriel windows are a form of Bay window commonly found in Gothic revival Architecture, which jut out from the main wall of the building but do not reach The small building on its east side is the old Mint, known in Scots as the Cunzie Hoose or "coining house". MiNT ("MiNT is Now TOS" is a Free software alternative Operating system kernel for the Atari ST and its successors Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern The renaissance Chapel Royal on the north side of the upper court was built by Master of Works William Schaw for James VI in 1594, for the state christening of his son and heir Prince Henry, on the site of the medieval Chapel Royal. William Schaw (c 1550 &ndash 1602 was Master of Works to James VI of Scotland, and was an important figure in the development of Freemasonry. James VI and I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625 was King of Scotland as James VI, and King of England and King of Ireland as James For other people known as Henry Prince of Wales see Henry Prince of Wales.
Modern use
The Castle esplanade, or parade ground, has been used as an open-air concert venue for several noted acts, some of whom have used the Castle and the surrounding scenery to film "in concert" DVDs. Recent acts include R.E.M., Ocean Colour Scene, Bob Dylan, Wet Wet Wet, and Runrig. REM is an American rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by Michael Stipe ( lead vocals) Peter Buck ( Guitar Ocean Colour Scene (often abbreviated to OCS) are an English Britpop band from Birmingham. Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish pop band that formed in the 1980s They scored a number of hits in the British charts and around the world Runrig is a six-piece Folk rock band from Scotland. The group was founded in 1973 and as of 2008 Runrig has released 13 Studio albums. The esplanade also hosts the city's hogmanay celebrations. Hogmanay ( pronounced &mdash with the main stress on the last syllable is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the The image of the castle appears on the reverse of a Clydesdale Bank £20 note. The Clydesdale Bank PLC is a Commercial bank in Scotland, a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank (NAB Group. Sterling banknotes are the Banknotes of the United Kingdom and British Islands, denominated in pounds sterling (symbol £
Gallery
 The Great Hall |
 Great Hall interior, facing South. |
 Great Hall interior, facing North. |
 Great Hall wall hanging with James IV's arms |
 The castle's outer fortifications, looking northward |
 Cannon |
 Castle gardens |
 Stirling Castle at night |
References
External links
- Stirling Castle - site information from Historic Scotland
- More information at Undiscovered Scotland
- The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- A soldiers view of The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders
- Clan Stirling Online! - Early Images of Stirling Castle
- Video view of Stirling Castle on ScotlandonTV
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