Edinburgh Castles

The Craigmillar Castle, one of the most perfectly preserved castles in Scotland, is an imposing 14th century stone L-plan tower house, fortified in the 15th century by a massive enclosure with round flanking towers at the corners and ranges of buildings along 3 sides of the high curtain wall. Even today, it retains the character of a medieval stronghold.

So that makes Craigmillar special is the extent to which it’s underlying structure survives. Now the inner courtyard is home of two impressive trees and the almost structures walls of the castle survive, together with the vaulted floors. And even more remarkably, many of the outlying structures survive in the gardens and outer yard. These include the walls of the chapel in the east garden, and the dovecot at the north east corner of the castle. This has been colonised by local pigeons, giving a vivid impression of a dovecot could have been like in use.

The site is owned by Historic Scotland and is open daily, April to September 9:30-6:30pm. October to March, Saturday to Wednesday 9:30-4:30pm.

Lauriston Castle is located to three miles from Edinburgh centre only to three miles from the bustle of Princes Street. It overlooks the Firth of Forth and enjoys a spectacular view across the Firth to the Fife coast and to the mountains of Perthshire beyond.

The oldest part of the castle, a tower house was built for Sir Archibald Napier, father of the famous mathematician and inventor of Logarithms, John Napier. Over the following centuries, the castle changed hands on several occasions and was the home of a number of notable Scots. Among John Law, a brilliant financer, who rose to power in France under the patronage of the Duc D’Orleans.

Lauriston Castle is a 19th century mansion built around a 16th century tower house which has been home to a number of notable Scots. It is now cared for by the City of Edinburgh Council on behalf of the nation. Lauriston’s Edwardian-period interiors remain exactly as they were at the death of the last private owner in 1926 and provide an ideal backdrop to her family’s rich collections of furniture and applied art. Lauriston is a time capsule, transporting visitors to the elegant days at the dawn of the 20th century.

A major new attraction opens to visitors to Lauriston Castle. The Edinburgh/Kyoto Friendship Garden is one of the largest Japanese gardens created in the United Kingdom in the course of the last 100 years. Lauriston and its gardens provide the setting and inspiration for a year-round programme of art and craft based activities, and summer garden events.

Tantallon Castle is an impressive ruin. It perches on the stone, with 100 cliffs that fall straight to the sea. This formidable castle was a stronghold of the Douglas family. It features earthwork defences and a massive 50ft high 14th century curtain wall with towers.

Two miles east of North Berwick is a rocky headland surrounded by cliffs offering stunning views north to the sea-bird colony on Bass Rock. In the late 14th century, they built a great stone curtain across a rocky promontory overlooking the Bass Rock. Its lofty towers and halls provided an imposing residence befitting a feudal lord and his household and suitably strong defences. Tantallon served as a noble fortification for more than three centuries and endured frequent sieges. During Cromwell's invasion in 1651 it suffered heavy damage and its days as one of the country's mightiest castles came to a close.

In the last century the castle was inhabited by a band of thieves. They entered the castle via a rope ladder and lived quite comfortably here by stealing provisions from nearby farms until they were discovered. Now this property is managed by Historic Scotland.

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