Замок Дун: История и архитектура средневековой Шотландии

Castle in Scotland

Doune Castle is a medieval stronghold near the village of Doune, in the Stirling council area of central Scotland and the historic county of Perthshire. The castle is sited on a wooded bend where the Ardoch Burn flows into the River Teith. It lies 8 mile (13 km) northwest of Stirling, where the Teith flows into the River Forth. Upstream, 8 mile (13 km) further northwest, the town of Callander lies at the edge of the Trossachs, on the fringe of the Scottish Highlands. Recent research has shown that Doune Castle was originally built in the thirteenth century, then probably damaged in the Scottish Wars of Independence, before being rebuilt in its present form in the late 14th century by Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany (c. 1340–1420), the son of King Robert II of Scots, and Regent of Scotland from 1388 until his death. Duke Robert's stronghold has survived relatively unchanged and complete, and the whole castle was traditionally thought of as the result of a single period of construction at this time. The castle passed to the crown in 1425, when Albany's son was executed, and was used as a royal hunting lodge and dower house. In the later 16th century, Doune became the property of the Earls of Moray. The castle saw military action during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms and Glencairn's rising in the mid 17th century, and during the Jacobite risings of the late 17th century and 18th century. By 1800 the castle was ruined, but restoration works were carried out in the 1880s, prior to its passing into state care in the 20th century. It is now maintained by Historic Environment Scotland. Due to the status of its builder, Doune reflected current ideas of what a royal castle building should be. It was planned as a courtyard with ranges of buildings on each side, although only the northern and north western buildings were completed. These comprise a large tower house over the entrance, containing the rooms of the Lord and his family, and a separate tower containing the kitchen and guest rooms. The two are linked by the great hall. The stonework is almost all from the late 14th century, with only minor repairs carried out in the 1580s. The restoration of the 1880s replaced the timber roofs and internal floors, as well as interior fittings.

The site at the confluence of the Ardoch Burn and the River Teith had been fortified by the Romans in the 1st century AD, although no remains are visible above ground. The earliest identifiable work in the castle dates from the thirteenth century,

In 1361, Robert Stewart (c. 1340–1420), son of King Robert II (reigned 1371–1390), and brother of King Robert III (reigned 1390–1406), was created Earl of Menteith, and was granted the lands on which Doune Castle now stands. Building may have started any time after this, and the castle was at least partially complete in 1381, when a charter was sealed here. In 1528, Margaret Tudor, now Regent of Scotland for her infant son James V, married Henry Stewart, 1st Lord Methven, a descendant of Albany. His brother, Sir James Stewart (c. 1513–1554), was made Captain of Doune Castle, and Sir James' son, also James (c. 1529–1590), was created Lord Doune in 1570. Doune was held by forces loyal to Mary during the brief civil war which followed her forced abdication in 1567, but the garrison surrendered to the Regent, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, in 1570, after a three day blockade. King James VI visited Doune on occasion, and in 1581 authorised £300 to be spent on repairs and improvements, In 1593, a plot against James was discovered, and the King surprised the conspirators, who included the Earls of Montrose and Gowrie, at Doune Castle.

The castle deteriorated through the 18th century, and by 1800 Doune was a roofless ruin. It remained so until the 1880s, when George Stuart, 14th Earl of Moray (1816–1895) began repair works.

Doune occupies a strategic site, close to the geographical centre of Scotland, and only 5 mile (8 km) from Stirling Castle, the "crossroads of Scotland". There are no openings within the lower part of the castle's walls, excepting the entrance and the postern, or side gate, to the west, although there are relatively large windows on the upper storeys. Windows in the south wall suggest that further buildings were intended within the courtyard, but were never built. The stonework is of coursed sandstone rubble, with dressings in lighter Ballengeich stone. The kitchen tower, virtually a tower house in its own right, is The vaulted kitchen is on the hall level, above a cellar. One of the best appointed castle kitchens in Scotland of its date, During this period, Lords were required to defend their castles by means of mercenaries, rather than the vassals of the earlier feudal system, and Simpson suggested that the Lord of Doune designed his tower to be defensible against his own, potentially rebellious, garrison. This interpretation is no longer widely accepted by historians, and the castle is instead seen as a development towards more integrated courtyard buildings, such as the royal palace of Linlithgow, which was constructed through the 15th and early 16th century. along the banks of the River Teith and Ardoch Burn. In 2022 a new footbridge was constructed, spanning the Ardoch Burn. It was built using locally sourced larch timbers and provides a link from the immediate grounds of the castle to the site of an old mill.

Doune Castle has featured in several literary works, including the 17th century ballad, "The Bonny Earl of Murray", which relates the murder of The 2nd Earl of Moray, by The 6th Earl of Huntly, in 1592. In Sir Walter Scott's first novel, Waverley (1814), the protagonist Edward Waverley is brought to Doune Castle by the Jacobites. Scott's romantic novel describes the "gloomy yet picturesque structure", with its "half ruined turrets". The castle was used as a location in MGM's 1952 historical film Ivanhoe, which featured Robert Taylor and Elizabeth Taylor. The BBC adaptation of Ivanhoe in 1996 also featured Doune as a location. The castle was used as a set for Winterfell in the first season of the TV series Game of Thrones (2011–2019), an adaptation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels by George R. R. Martin. The castle depicted the fictional "Castle Leoch" in the TV adaptation of the Outlander series of novels. The castle was also used as a location in Outlaw King, a 2018 historical action drama film about Robert the Bruce, the 14th century Scottish King who launched a guerilla war against the larger English army. The film is largely set in the 3 years from 1304, when Bruce decides to rebel against the rule of Edward I over Scotland, thus becoming an "outlaw", up to the 1307 Battle of Loudoun Hill.