Tag: castle
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Danby Rigg, flanked by Little Fryup Dale and Danby Dale
The sunshine made a refreshing change from the low cloud and mizzle of the last few days. This is taken on the descent from Danby Beacon looking due south. Just left of centre is Danby Castle, a partially ruined 14th-century pile built by the Latimer family, now part of a working farm with Court Leet…
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Whorlton Castle
Another dreich morning so I thought I had better grab a few shots of Whorlton Castle before I trudged up Whorlton Lane into the cloud. I’ve covered this impressive ruin several times before. What we see today is just the gatehouse of a once magnificence castle, of the motte and bailey type, but which was…
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Seacliff Harbour with Tantallon Castle in the background
Reputedly the smallest harbour in Britain, although it is hard to imagine anything smaller. It was built in 1890 by Andrew Laidlay, the laird of Seacliff, the grandest baronial mansion built on the cliff overlooking the bay. The family fortune came from the manufacture of indigo in Calcutta. Laidlay was killed in 1907 when Seacliff…
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Sir Guy, the Seeker
One stormy night, a brave and noble knight, Sir Guy, is riding along the coast and arrives at Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumbrian coast. Suddenly the gates burst open to reveal a tall old man with a white beard and a halo of flames flickering around his bald head. Around his waist, there is a…
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Castle Grinigoe Sinclair
The Caithness coastline seems to become more dramatic the further north. Geos, sea-stacks, arches, and cliffs. This is Castle Grinigoe, just north of Wick. It was built sometime after 1379 when Henry Sinclair acquired to the Earldom of Orkney by marriage and was substantially enlarged and reconstructed during subsequent centuries by his successors. By the…
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Loch an Eilein
The “Lake of the Island”. And on the island a castle. A castle that was unsuccessfully stormed by Jacobite troops in 1690. Long after that battle, ospreys nested there. King George V came, soon after his coronation in 1911, especially to view them. Apparently the loch was dammed to create artificial floods to float logs…
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Fast Castle
This is a part of the country I just didn’t know existed. We’re usually dashing past on the A1. But it’s a fascinating coastline, rugged, unfrequented with few paths. Fast Castle looked interesting, perched on an inaccessible promontory called Castle Knowe. It was built in the 14th-century, destroyed and rebuilt in the 16th but in…
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The Siannag of Dunstaffnage Castle
A wet and gloomy day, so dull in fact my photo count was a bit lean. So the featured image above is the runner-up from yesterday. Dunstaffnage Castle near Oban is a must-see on the tourist itinerary. Built by Duncan MacDougall, the Lord of Lorn, about 1220, on a plug of conglomerate rock. It would…
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Bolton Castle
A 14th-century castle in Wensleydale and built by Richard le Scrope, the 1st Baron Scrope of Bolton. Perhaps its most famous resident was Mary, Queen of Scots who was imprisoned there for six months in 1568. Mary has had such a bad press. She certainly upset Elizabeth I who, of course, had her beheaded but during…
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Sir Guy the Seeker
This legend reminded me of Freebrough Hill when I first read it. A supposedly hollow hill in which King Arthur, sleeps surrounded by his knights. Sir Walter Scott told a similar tale of Thomas the Rhymer in Eildon Hill, not a million miles away from Dunstanburgh Castle on the Northumbrian Coast. But the hero of…