Castleton is a village in the High Peak of Derbyshire. It lies near the mines where the mineral named Blue John can be found and below the site of Peveril Castle. We had intended to visit the latter but when we got there we found it is high up on a hill and didn’t really have the time to climb up to it.

Castle from village:-

From where we parked. The Castle lies behind a small group of trees. The quarry-like cliff below it is called the Devil’s Arse. I assume it leads into a cave since it is also called the Peak Cavern.

Hills above Castleton:-

At least two of the shops in the village were selling jewellery made from Blue John, a misleading name since it’s more of a purple colour. The stuff isn’t cheap.:-

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:-

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.:-

Dirleton Castle is in the village of Dirleton in East Lothian. It was built in the thirteenth century and ha ben home to the Des Vaux, the Haliburton and the Ruthven families but is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

Entrance:-

Interior:-

Fireplace:-

Courtyard:-

Dungeon within the castle:-

Tower on external wall :-

There is a visitor centre type display inside the tower which contains these two posters:-

Hailes Castle is in East Lothian. Built around 600 years ago it’s now a ruin in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

From distance:-

View from road:-

Information board:-

Sadly access to the interior is not allowed for safety reasons, but you can (more or less) walk around what remains.

Doorway (photo shot through fence):-

Wall of castle:-

This block of flats is on Alexander Drive. Below is a stitch of two photos:-

Detail of taller portion. The windows have been modernised:-

Reverse view, from the car park of Wickes in Stevenson Road:-

This is in the background of my post from three days ago. It’s on the corner of Gorgie Road and Alexander Drive and used to be Poole’s Roxy Cinema. Only the facade of the cinema remains.:-

It’s glorious though:-

Detail in Alexander Drive. From the website linked to above this is a later addition, possibly from when the building was turned over to shops and flats:-