Red Castle, repost from Multiply

Red Castle; a re-post from Multiply

Wednesday, 21 May 2008
This was originally posted as an entry into Picture Perfect, the picture at the top was featured and the title was 'Broken', hence the referenced to 'Broken', throughout the text. 

Red Castle of Lunan is a ruined fortified tower house on the coast of Angus, Scotland. A tower house is a Scottish, vernacular stone house , built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Such buildings were built throughout Scotland broadly between the 13th and the 17th century. These houses can still be seen all over Scotland, particularly around the Scottish Borders. Some are still intact and inhabited, some are beautifully renovated, some are horribly mutilated and others, like Red Castle stand as ruined BROKEN shells. Red Castle was built for King William I ("the Lion") in the late twelfth century initially to repel Viking invasions to Lunan Bay. Although William did take up residence there on several occasions, he tended to use it a bit of a hunting lodge.

William I (Mediaeval Gaelic: Uilliam mac Eanric; Modern Gaelic: Uilleam mac Eanraig), known as the Lion or Garbh, "the Rough", (1142/1143 – December 4, 1214) reigned as King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. His reign was the second longest in Scottish history before the Act of Union with England in 1707, (James VI's was the longest 1567–1625). He became King following his brother Malcolm IV's death on 9 December 1165 and was crowned on 24 December 1165. William was a powerful , red blooded redheaded,  Scot. An effective monarch,  whose strong reign was virtually BROKEN by his vastly miscalculated attempts to regain control of Northumbria from the English. William is credited with founding Arbroath Abbey, the site of the later Declaration of Arbroath. He was not known as "The Lyon" during his own lifetime, the title ‘Lyon’ was given to him because a contemporary of his is know to have called him; "Lion of Justice". William also inherited the title of Earl of Northumbria in 1152. However his right to this title was BROKEN by King Henry II of England in 1157 when William was forced to give up this title and hand it over to the English King, Henry II.


William was a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–1174 against Henry II. In 1174, at the Battle of Alnwick, during a raid in support of the revolt, William is said to have recklessly charged the English troops, shouting, "Now we shall see which of us are good knights!" He was supposedly unhorsed, captured by Henry's troops, taken in chains, a BROKEN man, first to Newcastle, then Northampton, and then transferred to Falaise in Normandy. Henry then sent an army to Scotland and occupied it, Scotland, a noble and independent country under the rule of William became a BROKEN, enslaved nation. As ransom, and to regain his kingdom, William had to acknowledge Henry as his feudal superior and agree to pay for the cost of the English army's occupation of Scotland by taxing the Scots. This he did by signing the Treaty of Falaise. He was then allowed to return to Scotland but to complete his humiliation in 1175 he swore fealty to Henry II at York Castle. When he returned to Scotland it was to a BROKEN Nation, peopled by those with BROKEN spirits, and his dreams of regaining Northumberland were BROKEN forever

The Treaty of Falaise remained in force for the next fifteen years. Then Richard the Lionheart of England ,who by that time had control over England, needing money to take part in the Third Crusade and agreed to terminate it in return for 10,000 silver marks. Thus the dreaded Treaty of Falaise was at last BROKEN

In 1328 Robert the Bruce gave the castle to the Earl of Ross.  Aodh, Earl of Ross, commonly known as Earl Hugh of Ross, was the third successor of Ferchar mac in tSagairt as Mormaer of Ross (often anglicized and more commonly known as Farquhar MacTaggart). He was also Chief of Clan Ross. Aodh was a big favourite with Robert the Bruce who showered him with lands and wealth. Aodh even married Robert's sister, Maud, and all because Robert the Bruce took a likeing The Earl of Ross. Favoured though he was, his luck finally ran out. His body; along with many other Scottish nobles, lay BROKEN and dying, at the Battle of Halidon Hill on July 19, 1333. He was succeeded by his son, Uilleam, who took over ownership of red Castle. By this time the building had been officially named rubeum castrum (Red Castle) in written deeds of 1286. The name referred to its red sandstone, very typical of the area.

Moving on a couple of hundred years to 1579 James; son of Lord Gray, married Lady Elizabeth Beaton, who by that time owned the castle, and he promptly fell in love with her daughter. James, with a BROKEN heart (to the young daughter) and a BROKEN marriage (to the mother) was truly the victim of a BROKEN home after Lady Beaton threw him out, no surprises there really.  James Gray, with his brother Andrew of Dunninald, laid siege to the castle for over two years, the occupants were finally BROKEN by Grey and his brother by burning the inhabitants out.

From then on the castle slipped into decline, the shell of this once proud building became more and more BROKEN by the forces of nature and the neglect of man. Although it remained partially roofed until 1770 it was never again a residence of nobility. Its last inhabitant was the minister of Inverkeilor, one James Rait. Today only a part of the (fifteenth century) rectangular tower and the six-feet-thick east curtain wall remain, but the castle is still an eye-catching, if BROKEN, ruin. The tower is in precipitous condition, being perched almost on the edge of the hill overlooking Lunan Bay, just waiting for the day when it will become completely broken and fall right into the sea.