If you turn left after passing through the War Memorial Arch at the entrance to Penrith’s Castle Park you can stroll up to the ruins of Penrith Castle, in the care of English Heritage. There’s not much more to say about it beyond what is on the information board.

Old Burntisland Swimming Pool:-

It was apparently an outdoor Lido style pool:-

I thought I’d posted about this one but it seems I haven’t. Variously the Rialto, Gaumont and Odeon this cinema was at 204 High Street, Kirkcaldy.

See photo on the Scottish Cinemas website.

Blocks of flats on Corbiehall, towards the west side of the town, flanking Matthew Steele Court. Columns with rule of three.

Building at end of street to the right above. Rule of three in central windows:-

Companion building to the first above on other side of Matthew Steele Court:-

Further west along the A 904:-

Detail:-

Central doorway:-

Stitch of whole building:-

For the castle’s exterior see my post of 24/8/24.

Internal tower:-

Other side of tower:-

Courtyard and tower:-

From curtain wall:-

As it might have been:-

Pier and curtain wall (‘prow’ of ‘the ship that never sailed’:-

History of castle information board:-

Fireplace:-

Great Hall:-

Reverse view:-

Wooden ceiling:-

Part of internal structure:-

Fire grate:-

Blackness Castle sticks out into the River Forth a few miles west of the Forth Bridges. (See photograph in the link.) Because of its situation and prominence it is sometimes known as ‘the ship that never sailed’. It has had several uses over the years since it was built in the 1440s including as an ammunition store. As with most Scottish castles it has featured in the TV series Outlander.

Infiormation board:-

From approach road:-

Closer view and modern entrance:-

Side view and old entrance:-

Old entrance: now blocked off. The notice warns you not to climb on it:-

As you can see in the photo in the link a pier pokes from the castlefurther out into the river.

Castle from pier. (Stitch of two photos.):-

Pier, part of Castle and Blackness village beyond:-

View west from pier:-

View east: three bridges across the Forth:-

Close-up:-

South range and rooftop, Linlithgow beyond:-

Rooftop looking east:-

Great Hall fireplace:-

Interior:-

Stairwell:-

Window seat:-

Linlithgow in West Lothian is one of our favourite places. I could have sworn I had posted photos of the palace there,  Linlithgow Palace, where Mary, Queen of Scots was born in 1542, but a search on the blog proved fruitless.

The Palace is approached from the town up a short road and is partly obscured by St Michael’s Church on your right as you do so. As a result there is not a good angle to view the Palace facade. It opens out a bit at the top.

The Palace – with St Michael’s Church (the tower with crossed beams) behind – is best viewed as a whole from across Linlithgow Loch:-

Side view from the grounds surrounding the Palace:-

The interior courtyard is dominated by an elaborate fountain:_

Fountain and east range. The Palace’s original entrance  was on the east. The wall above taht enrtance would have been painted in bright colours:-

North range:-

St Martin’s Kirk is a historic ruined church in Haddington, East Lothian. We stopped there on our way back from Dirleton, Tantallon and Hailes Castles. The kirk is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. It stands in the middle of a field.

Reverse view:-

Interior:-

One of the walls bears a plaque detailing the kirk’s history:-

Side view:-

On the same trip on which we visited both Dirleton and Hailes Castles (we do tend to pack a lot in) we sandwiched in a visit to Tantallon Castle, which stands on a promontory east of North Berwick in East Lothian.

Though a ruin it’s a seriously impressive structure:-

Information board:-

It’s a fair walk from the car park and Castle shop up to the castle. Approach:-

Entrance:-

Within the walls:-

The courtyard is now a grassy space:-

Far right-side wall:-

The Firth of Forth’s most prominent island, the Bass Rock, lies just off the coast here:-

Part of castle-:-

It’s possible to climb up to the top of the castle. Its a long way down!:-

Fireplaces on different levels:-

What looked like  like World War 2 gun emplacements or the buildings that served them lay just to the west:-

A good position to protect the Firth of Forth from sea attack. East Lomond Hill and Largo Law can be seen on the far side.:-