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:-

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:-

Duffus Castle is a few miles north of Elgin in Moray.

Castle from car park:-

From approach path:-

Information board:-

Castle interior:-

Castle from east:-

External wall (seen to left above):-

Wee bridge at end of path from Duffus Castle in photo two above:-

As we were walking back up the path towards the castle to go back to the car park we heard a tremendous roar. Two jet planes came flying over. This is one of them:-

Continuing our trip up north in April  I spotted another War Memorial. This was by the side of the A 95 road on a pretty sharp bend.

There is no location identifier on the memorial but this pink granite cross on a pyramidal base is Ballindalloch War Memorial. Ballindalloch village is itself small but has two distilleries and a castle to its name:-

It’s dedicated for both World Wars:-

The good lady had for a few years fancied a look at Knaresborough in Yorkshire.  We finally visited in November last year.

Knaresborough Castle is perhaps the town’s most historical feature.

Castle approach:-

Information Board:-

The first structure you come across, though, is the castle’s Sally Port:-

Information Board:-

It being November the castle was done up in Remembrance Day colours:-

Including this figure of a World War 2 soldier. The figure of the Great War soldier had not yet been set upright:-

Castle ruins:-

King’s Tower board:-

Castle from below:-

The trees in the surrounding gardens were covered in purple poppies and the more usual red ones. The purple ones commemorate animals that died in war:-

The ruins of Kildrummy Castle lie about 7 miles west of Alford in Aberdeenshire. On our trip there in August we tried to visit it on the first day but it was late by that time and the castle was closed. I was able to duck into the car park and take a photo though.

Kildrummy Castle from car park:-

We altered our plans slightly for the day we came home so as to try to see the castle properly.

Castle ruins fom the path up from the car park:-

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Judging by this illustration on the information board the castle would have been seriously impressive in its day:-

Model of castle in the shop:-

Interior of castle:-

To right of above:-

To left:-

The area the castle covered was extensive:-

Remains of towers:-

Cut-away illustration of the Snow Tower (most of which has long since collapsed):-

Glenbuchat Castle is a ruined Tower House in Aberdeenshire.

We visited it on our trip up north last August.

The approach is over a stretch of grass.

Closer view:-

The castle wasn’t open to the public as there were works going on.

Rear view showing turrety stair tower:-

Craigievar Castle is about six miles from Alford in Aberdeenshire. The castle is a fairly conventional turreted tower structure but is strikingly pink.

Craigievar Castle from car park:-

Castle from approach road:-

From east:-

Entrance:-

The castle has a barmkin:-

Barmkin with castle in background:-

Doorway in barmkin:-

Barmkin turret with door:-