Craigievar Castle and Tolquhon Castle

Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle and Tolquhon Castle were both once owned by the Forbes family.  Forbes was and maybe still is a big name in Scotland.  Craigievar Castle's claim to fame is that it was reportedly the inspiration for the Walt Disney motif.  It is a charming pink seven story castle set way up on a hill.  And although the Walt Disney story is the one most well known the one we remember is the one told to us by our castle guide.  According to the guide the clan that lived in Craigievar Castle and a neighboring clan were feuding.  Think Capulet and Montagues.  The Craigievar Castle clan had a daughter who apparently was smitten with the son of the "enemy" clan.  The two young people had gone around their folks and were having a clandestine "meeting" in the bed of the Craigievar Castle's laird.  Sadly, they were discovered and the young man was given an option.  Be run through with the lairds sword or "learn to fly".  He opted for the latter and jumped out the window (on the top floor).  Needless, to say the landing was not soft.  That window was then covered up and remains so today.  Gruesome story but one that sticks in your memory.

Craigievar Castl

Native stone of the region gives Craigievar its unique pink hue.  In the above photo you can see all the spikes in the castle wall which are actually drains.  They keep the water from draining right down the side of the castle.  We tend to think of castles as defensive structures but for the most part they were just homes with some defensive capability.  Most of the Scotland castles were never actually attacked.

View from the top of Craigievar Castle

 The castles are usually in beautiful, remote settings with the grounds being as stunning as the castles. 

Craigievar Castle

 Craigievar and Tolquhon were two of my favorite castles.  Tolquhon is in partial ruin but I love it as it allows your imagination to run wild.

Tolquhon Castle

 Craigievar is more of a "princess castle" and Tolquhon is more of a defensive castle.  Complete with slits for arrows and a surrounding wall.  It looks like a very defensive castle.  However, all that was apparently just for "decoration".  Tolquhon was never attacked.  But again... you can still use your imagination!

Tolquhon Castle

Tolquhon Castle is often overlooked which is a shame as it fits my image of a castle better than some others we have seen.  Maybe its the courtyard and outer wall that do it for me.
I can imagine the enemy trying to scale the outer wall only to be shot with arrows as they were forced to cross the completely exposed grassy area to actually reach the castle. And then right by the door there were slits for arrows so the folks in the castle could shoot at you as you were trying to get through the door.  So disappointing to learn that what we took for strategic planning was actually all just for show.  Even folks in medieval times were trying to keep up with the "Jones" it seems. 

So glad the decision was made to preserve this partial ruin, although it is now a haven for birds, it still gives you a glimpse into medieval life.  In many ways we found it more intriguing not having a guide to give us the castle story which allowed us to make up our own.  Michael and I spent our time analyzing the various defensive structures we saw and ruminating over how clever it all was.  My advice would be to not write off the partial ruin castles as they are just as interesting to visit as the complete castles and in some ways even more interesting!  A few more castles to come...