Photo gallery: Castles of Scotland

Unless otherwise noted, these are reachable without a car. The date in the headings refer to the year the photos were taken.

Craigmillar Castle, Edinburgh (1987)

Craigmillar Castle tower

The northeast corner of the castle, with a 15th-century gunport near the ground level; machicolations above. The washed-out look towards the top is not just a bad photo; the visit started out on a delightfully foggy day.

Craigmillar Castle tower

Craigmillar seems to grow organically from the bedrock of the site. The beautiful sandstone has interesting erosion patterns on its surface.

Linlithgow Palace (1987)

Linlithgow Palace

Located between Edinburgh and Glasgow, Linlithgow was the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots and James V of Scotland. What survives today is 15th through 17th century, and though technically not a castle, it is a splendid place to visit. Above can be seen the grooves which mark a now-vanished roofline.

Linlithgow Palace staircase

This shows one of the inner courtyard corner stair turrets (Queen’s Turnpike), with the early-17th century ‘new work’ on the right. The early-16th century fountain is in the foreground.

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