Description: Fife is full of historical sites. One we visited was Lochleven Castle. We approached it by boat in the same way as William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and the many other Scottish Monarchs who visited, including Mary Queen of Scots. The partly ruined castle consists of a rectangular courtyard surrounded by a curtain wall, with a tower house, at one corner, and the round Glassin Tower projecting from the opposite corner. The foundations of demolished ranges of buildings remain around two sides of the courtyard. Of the outer court, only an earth bank shows the position of the walls, with fragmentary remains of a bakehouse the only visible remains.
The castle has had a turbulent life. During the First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1328), the invading English army held Lochleven Castle. Parts of the curtain wall date from its occupancy. The Scots under Sir William Wallace recaptured it before the end of the 13th century. English forces laid siege to Loch Leven again in 1301, but the Scots broke it in the same year. Following King Robert the Bruce death (reigned 1306–1329), the English invaded again, and laid siege to the Castle in 1335. They tried to flood the castle by building a dam across the outflow of the loch. The water level rose for a month until the defenders damaged the dam, causing it to collapse and flood the English camp.
The addition of the five-story tower house of which four floors remain strengthened the castle in the 14th or early 15th century. The original entrance, now closed, is 5m above-ground level because of the danger of flooding. It gave access directly into the lord’s hall on the third floor. The lowest level is a vaulted basement, with a vaulted kitchen above and living space above.
Mary Queen of Scots first visited in 1561 as a guest of the owner, Sir William Douglas. She returned as a prisoner on 17 June 1567 after her nobles defeated her forces in battle. They opposed her marriage to the Earl of Bothwell. She spent most of her captivity in the early 16th-century Glassin Tower of the castle under the custody of Sir William Douglas.
Apart from Sir William, the household included his mother Lady Margaret Douglas, mother of Mary's half-brother the Earl of Moray, and his brother George Douglas, as well as Willie Douglas, a young orphaned relative. Mary fell ill on arrival and about a month later she miscarried twins that she had conceived with Bothwell. A few days later she abdicated as Queen, in favour of her infant son James. Mary recovered during the autumn and winter, and gradually won over George Douglas to help her escape. On the night of the escape, Willie Douglas stole the keys and let Mary, dressed as a servant, out of the castle. She was rowed across the loch to where George Douglas and others awaited her, and they fled to Niddry Castle in Lothian.
The island containing the castle was smaller in Mary’s time than it is now because of drainage works in 1836. When Queen Mary was a prisoner, the walled castle enclosure with its little garden to the north was all that appeared above the water.
The Glassin Tower in which Mary spent her early imprisonment is a round tower, added to the south-east corner of the curtain wall in the 16th century. The tower has a vaulted basement, defended by a gun port, and two small rooms above. The lower room has an oriel window. The floor above the hall in the tower house served as Mary’s later prison. The top floor housed her doctor.
Historic Scotland now manages Loch Leven Castle and the 12-person ferry to it running from Kinross during the summer months. The history of the castle is perhaps greater than the remains but nevertheless it is well worth a visit.
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