Here
I am again at the end of another longish, coldish, dismal(ish) day, and
still not solved the problem of uploading photos, which is (as opposed
to 'uplifting photos') apparently the correct terminology for getting
them from wherever they are to here. Thank you for your advice re photos
and correct terminology, shall do as you suggest and wait for Yahoo to
provide a download transfer link and for now just upload a few here and there. Thanks, all advice appreciated.
The
dastardly ECDL was OK, passed another module and am now left with the
tantalising choice of doing Database or Spreadsheets next, wow, exciting
or what?? how lucky am I?
IF and I do mean IF I manage to upload
the photo of choice for today it will be a rather nice view of Edzell
Castle, situated in the delightful Angus countryside. This one was taken
a while ago with my old APS, this was prior to getting my trusty little
digi that now goes everywhere with me. So if the quality isn't that
good, well that's why. Should really go back this summer and get some
better pics.
What
to say about Edzell Castle, well for a start it's not a castle, it's a
Scottish Tower House, my favourite type of building. Scottish Tower
Houses, the traditional and vernacular residence of the Scottish
Nobility. Beautiful, strong, impressive, stone rubble built tower houses
harled in white with brightly painted detail. These days they are
mostly all devoid of their original harling. Some due to the ruinous
state of the building and some because the ignorant owners thought the
building would look better if the stone was uncovered. The living
accommodation in a tower house is organised vertically rather than
horizontally. The ground floor usually consists of vaulted storage areas
and/or kitchen ranges, the first floor is where the main entrance is
and usually where the grand hall is found. The upper floors are bedrooms
and guest apartments. That is a very, very basic outline of what a
Scottish Tower house is and not all of them will conform exactly to that
rather crude formula. But you get the idea.
Edzell
Castle was the ancestral seat of the Lindsays, they acquired it in 1358
and at the time the house was an earthwork-and-timber motte
thought
to have been built some time in the 1100's. The old building stood
about 300m South-West of the present building. The Lindsays built the
first stage of the present building and started living in it from the
early 1500's. Over time new ranges were added by the lindsays and their
descendants but their greatest achievement was the garden. This was a
first class renaissance walled garden complete with stone built summer
house and a boundary wall covered with unique carved stone panels and
tiny alcoves for plants. The carvings depict Arts, Virtues, Planets,
Gods, everything you would expect from a true Renaissance building.
The
last Lindsay Laird was deeply in dept and sold the estate to the Earl
of Panmure in 1715 BUT..... because the said Earl of Panmure joined the
1715 Jacobite rising he forfeited all of his estates, including Edzell.
The new owner began stripping Edzell of its assets and soon the place
fell into disrepair. THEN..... in the 1745 Jacobite rising a bunch of
hardy Argyll Highlanders moved in and occupied the castle for a while.
The final death blow to the Castle was in 1764 when it was gutted for
building materials. What a bloody sordid end to such a spectacular piece
of Scottish renaissance architectural history.
I just do so love Scottish Tower Houses, this one in particular.
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