Stirling Castle
A king stabbed a rival here and had the body tossed from a window, a rival monarch's siege engine was held back for show, and a nine-month-old queen was crowned in the chapel.
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Quick Facts
- Location
- Castle Hill, Stirling, Scotland
- Built
- Fortress recorded by the early 12th century; main surviving buildings 15th–16th centuries
- Main builders
- James IV and James V, with French-influenced masons and carvers
- Setting
- A crag of hard volcanic rock overlooking the River Forth
- Royal moments
- Mary, Queen of Scots crowned here in 1543
- Great Hall
- Built c.1503 for James IV; one of the largest medieval halls in Scotland
- Military use
- Garrisoned by the army well into the 20th century
- Care of the site
- Historic Environment Scotland
The rock that decided who ruled Scotland
Stirling Castle sits on a steep crag of hard volcanic rock, with cliffs on three sides, overlooking an important historic crossing of the River Forth. For centuries that mattered enormously. Stirling was historically the river's lowest bridging point and a major route between the Lowlands and the Highlands, which is why the town has long been called the key to Scotland. A royal fortress was here by the early 12th century. Alexander I died at Stirling in 1124, and from then on the castle swung between Scottish and English hands more often than almost any other in Britain.
The siege engine that had to be shown off
In 1304, Edward I of England besieged the castle, the last Scottish stronghold still holding out against him. His engineers built an enormous trebuchet called the Warwolf. The garrison, led by Sir William Oliphant, offered to surrender, but Edward refused to accept it until he had tried the new machine on the walls. Ten years later, the castle was at the centre of the build-up to Bannockburn. The English governor agreed to surrender unless an English army arrived by midsummer 1314. That deadline helped bring Edward II north and set up Robert the Bruce's famous victory, fought within sight of the castle.
A defenestration, a christening and a baby queen
Stirling was a home for the Stewart kings, and it saw some of their darkest and grandest moments. In 1452, James II invited the powerful William, 8th Earl of Douglas, to dinner under a promise of safe conduct. After an argument, the king stabbed him, and tradition says the body was thrown from a window into the garden below. The mood changed with Mary, Queen of Scots, who was crowned in the castle's Chapel Royal in 1543 when she was only nine months old. Her son James VI was christened at Stirling in 1566 and grew up in the castle under the tutor George Buchanan. In 1594 James had a new Chapel Royal built for the baptism of his own son, Prince Henry.
Renaissance show-off architecture
James IV and James V turned a fortress into a statement of kingly power. James IV added the grand forework and the Great Hall around 1503, a vast space built for ceremony and feasting. James V built the Royal Palace in the 1540s, using craftsmen familiar with French fashion, and its carved stonework includes statues and decoration unlike anything else in Scotland at the time. Inside, the King's Presence Chamber once had a ceiling of carved oak roundels, known as the Stirling Heads. They show kings, queens, courtiers and classical figures, and surviving originals can be seen up close at the castle. The Great Hall is now finished in a bold yellow-gold harling. That was a surprise to many visitors when it was restored in the 1990s, but it follows evidence for how the building looked when new.
Tapestries, kitchens and soldiers
The Palace apartments have been refitted to show how they might have looked around 1540. The most striking additions are the woven tapestries based on the famous Hunt of the Unicorn series in New York. The tapestries were woven over many years by West Dean's team, working both at West Dean in West Sussex and in a studio at Stirling Castle, using traditional techniques. Down below, the Royal Kitchens recreate the bustle of preparing a Renaissance feast, with costumed figures and replica food. The castle was also a working military base for centuries, and it still houses the museum of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the regiment long linked with the place.
What to look out for when you visit
Start with the view. From the ramparts you can pick out the Wallace Monument, the Ochil Hills, the winding Forth and the area around Bannockburn. It shows at once why the castle mattered. Look at the outer defences, where gun batteries from later centuries sit above the older walls. Walk through the Great Hall and compare its scale with the intimate Palace rooms. In the Chapel Royal, think of the crowned infant queen. Then go to the gardens beneath the walls, and the story of the Earl of Douglas feels a little less distant. There is also a ghost story: the Green Lady is said to haunt the castle and to appear as a warning of danger, usually fire.
Notable people
- Edward I
- Robert the Bruce
- William Oliphant
- James II
- William Douglas, 8th Earl of Douglas
- James IV
- James V
- Mary, Queen of Scots
- James VI
- George Buchanan
Test yourself
Play the UK quizMore to see nearby
The National Wallace Monument
Published
A Victorian tower built by public subscription, topped with a giant stone crown, looks down on the field where William Wallace won his greatest victory.
Loch Lomond
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Vikings dragged longships overland to reach it, a cold snap in Ice Age science is named after it, and wallabies once hopped about on one of its islands.