Castles of Scotland by Cristina Gambaro

History and architecture merge

Scottish castles rising mythically out of the morning mists against a backdrop of untamed mountainsides and beautiful lakes. History and architecture merge within the walls of these historic residences and stout fortresses, which today are the monuments of the Highland Celtic clan system.

Scottish Castles

Linlithgow Palace, Stirling Castle, Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Liddesdale Hermitage, Campbell, Loch Leven Castle, Falkland Palace, Floors, Abbotsford, Hopetown House, Dalmeny House, Duns, Thirlestane, Mellerstain House, Traquair House, Bothwell Castle, Drumlanrig, Caerlaverock, Threave, Inveraray, Brodie Castle, Culzean Castle, Urquhart, Eilan Donan, Earl Patrick's, Dunrobin, Cawdor Castle, Braemar Castle, Blair, Balmoral, Dunvegan, Fyvie Castle, Haddo House, Craigievar, Crathes, Glamis, Scone Palace, and Drummond Castle

Historic and cultural importance

Castles of Scotland by Cristina Gambaro: celebrating the world's most beautiful cities and its most fascinating and exotic regions. Celebrating their historic and cultural importance, and their natural beauty. The history of each location is shown in original prints and paintings. The modern scene is explored in glorious colour photographs and with a travel writer's experienced eye.

Defensive role

From the establishment of the kingdom of the Scots under King Kenneth MacAlpine in 843 to the Union with the English Crown in 1707, all of the Scottish castles played a principally defensive role. High, turreted and surrounded by walls and bastions they were apparently impregnable and as well as protecting the local lord, served as his administrative center and the residence of his family, servants and soldiers. The fortified tower, or tower house, was the most common form and was found in both the remote Highlands and the fertile valleys of the Borders, at the confine with England.

Scottish history

Composed of three stories linked by spiral staircases in stone or wood, the last of which was overhanging, the tower house was a feature of over 1,000 years of Scottish history, from the defensive towers of the Picts and the Scots era.

Brodie Castle

Castles of Scotland

Castles of Scotland by Cristina Gambaro
Publisher: White Star Editions
ISBN: 8880956922

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