Another re-post from the early days of 360; this time about another famous landmark from around here, Edzell Castle.
What to say about Edzell Castle? well for a start it's not a castle, it's a Scottish Tower House and THAT is, my favourite type of building. Scottish Tower Houses are the traditional and vernacular residence of the Scottish Nobility. They are 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 
http://www.castlewales.com/motte.html
www.castles-of-britain.com/castlesa.htm
The original earth and wood dwelling is believed to have been constructed in or around 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 classical 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, in fact all things you would expect from any 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 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.
www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/edzell/edzellcastle/index.html
Another treasure....the formal gardens are most impressive and the whole building (or at least what's left of it) is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThese Scots Tower houses are of course found all over Scotland, I was last looking at similar structures in Orkney last year. They also have a lot in common with Irish tower houses, but in Scotland this sort of structure actually goes right back to Iron Age brochs, more common in the north but found all over Scotland.
Those defensive towers are an enduring feature of Celtic architecture.
I was reminded of the medieval monastic settlement at Glendalough in County Wicklow where the towers are absolutely amazing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glendalough
Thanks for another look at the many attractions you have in your neck of the woods which I have never seen for myself Loretta. All very interesting stuff!
You take the most beautiful pictures. I am so fascinated by your part of the world, yours and AA's also. I will never get to see any of it in person, but it is nice to see the pictures and read about these places. It makes me feel like I have at least had a glimpse of the beautiful land across the pond.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing.