Castles & Historic Attractions
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A fifteenth-century tower house above Dollar Glen, once called Castle Gloom, that became the Lowland seat of the Campbell earls of Argyll. Burned in 1654, it is now a seasonal Historic Environment Scotland visit between April and September.
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A Roman fort on a fellside spur above the Hardknott Pass, garrisoned by soldiers from the Dalmatian coast and, by English Heritage’s account, abandoned within about 20 years.
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A headland fortress above the North Sea where Henry II raised a great tower, Piers Gaveston was besieged and a Civil War bombardment brought down half the keep. In 1914 German warships shelled its walls.
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A first-century palace on the edge of Chichester Harbour, destroyed by fire in the 280s and found again by a water-main trench in 1960, with mosaic floors still lying where they were laid.
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A moated ring of sandstone in the middle of Rothesay, taken twice by Norway’s kings and later a royal castle of the Stewarts. Its name lives on in the title Duke of Rothesay, still held by the heir to the throne.
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A 13th-century castle at the heart of an East Lothian village, home to three noble families for four centuries and ringed by Victorian and Arts and Crafts gardens. With part of the ruin currently closed, tickets are discounted.
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A clifftop bishop’s palace that became the stage for a murder, a siege and a turning point in the Scottish Reformation. Here is its story, and how to visit what remains.
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A Stuart riverside mansion where a duchess carried coded royalist letters, a duke advised Charles II and Bridgerton later staged a ball. Here is its story and how to visit.
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Horace Walpole built a little Gothic castle in Twickenham that inspired a novel, a genre and a century of architecture, then nearly lost it all. Here is its story and how to visit.
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A tower house on a tidal islet in Loch Laich, lost in a drunken wager for a rowing boat, besieged by Jacobites, left roofless for a century, then rebuilt by one family’s own hands. Monty Python fans know it as Castle Aaargh.