Hermitage

May 21, 1999.Reading time 3 minutes.

Four towers, connected with walls, make this fortress an impregnable cube of stone

Caerlaverock

May 21, 1999.Reading time 9 minutes.

My favorite castle in Scotland — a triangular, multi-towered ruin with not one, but two moats!

Sweetheart Abbey

May 21, 1999.Reading time less than 1 minute.

If there is a more picturesque abbey in Scotland, I don’t know what it is. Sweetheart abbey is a fabulous ruin set in a grassy churchyard that is almost too green to be real

Kilwinning Abbey

May 22, 1999.Reading time 1 minute.

This is a child abbey from Kelso abbey, also a Tironensian foundation from the 12th century. It is possible that the abbey was never finished, and it was left to ruin in the 16th century.

Dundonald

May 22, 1999.Reading time 4 minutes.

A massive fortified towerhouse built for Robert II in the 14th century

Bothwell

May 22, 1999.Reading time 9 minutes.

A very large castle ruin along a bend on the River Clyde.

Doune

May 23, 1999.Reading time 5 minutes.

Best known as the castle in Monty Python’s Holy Grail, this is one of the tallest towers in Scotland

Blackness

May 23, 1999.Reading time 7 minutes.

This 15th century fortress looks like an enormous battleship, heading out to sea.

Stirling

May 23, 1999.Reading time 5 minutes.

Stirling is considered one of the strongest and most impregnable castles in Scotland.

Stirling Great Hall

May 23, 1999.Reading time 2 minutes.

A stunning interior and exterior restoration of the Great Hall of Stirling Castle