Undiscovered Scotland

 

"Castles of Scotland" by Andrew Powell-Thomas is a superb primer for anyone wanting to begin to understand the sheer diversity of Scotland's castles and the fascination they hold for so many of us.

In his introduction, the author says: "...it is thought that a staggering 3,000 castles have been built across the country over the years. Some of these are long since gone, with the weather, a change in needs, and later builders taking and reusing the materials all taking their toll. Incredibly, though, it is estimated that there are around 1,500 still standing today - some in a ruinous and dilapidated state, others still great strongholds that dominate their surroundings... To include them all within the same publication would be impossible, so this books aims to include a selection right across the country, listed in alphabetical order."

And that is what you get. The coverage is densest across the middle of the country with the south and west also well represented. There are fewer in the north-east and none north of Inverness or in the northern or western isles. The author's selection is fascinating. The fifty castles covered in the book include many that everyone with an interest will have heard of: Balmoral, Caerlaverock, Cawdor, Doune, Edinburgh, St Andrews, Stirling and Urquhart, for example. But for me it was the author's choice of less well known and sometimes nearly ruinous castles that I found particularly interesting. He starts, for example, with Airth Castle, a fine hotel until its closure in 2023 and now (I happened to visit a week or so ago) in even worse condition than shown in the book. Next up is Almond Castle, which will probably evoke a "Where?" from most readers, but is again a fascinating place with an interesting history, if awkward to access. Others, like Buchanan Castle and Lennox Castle, are new to me and left me with the very strong sense of needing to visit before they entirely succumb to Mother Nature and disappear altogether.

And isn't that really the point of a book like this one? I challenge anyone to read it and not come away with a few, or more, items added to their "must see" list!