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Tour
Loch Leven Castle
Loch
Leven Castle Photographs
Loch
Leven Castle is one of the best and least changed examples of
a fourteenth century keep remaining in Scotland. It stands on
an island in the loch of the same name, which is under the control
of an association of anglers. This association controls all
the boats which are allowed to ply upon the loch, and only from
their pier in the town of Kinross can the castle be visited.
The lake is the home of a peculiar species of trout, of which
an average of twenty-five thousand per year are taken by the
anglers, who are required to keep an exact record of their baskets.
The loch was lowered by drainage works in the beginning of the
last century, so that the water, which once lapped the castle
walls, has left a considerable space of greensward on all sides
at present. The island seems to have been connected in very
ancient times with the mainland by a causeway, which has now
sunk well under the surface. Still, in very dry seasons, it
is possible for a man to wade all the way to the island. The
castle consists of a small keep, only about thirty-eight feet
by thirty, with walls seven or eight feet thick, and five stories
high. This has a vaulted basement below the level of the court,
with no access to the floor above save by a hatch. The entrance
is two floors above this, leaving the first floor without external
communication. The upper floors are gone, and there is no access
to the battlements, which have corbelled bartizans at the three
external corners. This keep is provided with an extensive courtyard,
which has a continuous rampart walk. At the corner opposite
the keep is a ruinous round tower, in which Queen Mary was confined.
This is of the sixteenth century, as were the other buildings
in the courtyard, of which only the foundations now remain.
The earliest
castle in the island is said to have been built by Congal, son
of Dongart, King of the Picts. The first authentic history of
the castle is given in the following quotation: "In the
wars which harassed Scotland during the minority of David II,
the castle of Lochleven was held in the patriotic interest by
Allen de Vipont, against the troops of Edward III, who acted
in behalf of Edward Baliol. John de Strivilin blockaded it,
and erected a fortress in the churchyard of Kin-ross, which
occupies the point of a neighbouring promontory; and, at the
lower end of the lake, where the water of Leven issues out of
it, it is said that he raised a strong and lofty bulwark, by
means of which he hoped to lay the castle under water, and constrain
Vipont to surrender. The water continued to rise daily, and
the besiegers thought themselves certain of success, when, the
English general and most of his troops having left the camp
to celebrate the festival of St. Margaret at Dunfermline, the
besieged, seizing the favourable opportunity (June 19, 1385),
after much labour and perseverance broke through the barrier,
when the water rushed out with such impetuosity as to overwhelm
the English encamped on that side."
The most
famous association of Lochleven Castle is undoubtedly the imprisonment
here of Mary, Queen of Scots. The Douglases had held the castle
and lands on the mainland since the time of Robert III. Sir
Robert Douglas, the laird of Mary's time, was a kinsman of James,
Earl of Morton, and stepfather to the queen's natural brother,
James, Earl of Moray, so that he was entirely in sympathy with
her captors. She was delivered into his keeping on June 16th,
1567, immediately after her surrender at Carberry Hill. On the
4th of July she was visited by Lord Ruthven, Lord Lindsay of
the Byres, and Sir Robert Melville, who wrung from her her signature
to an instrument purporting to resign the crown to her infant
son James. This scene has been graphically depicted by Scott,
in "The Abbot," as well as the other events of her
stay here, and is portrayed with great pathos. Mary was not
content with her unhappy lot, and succeeded in gaining the affections
of George Douglas, younger son of her jailer, and in persuading
him to help her to escape. The first attempt, on the 25th of
April, was unsuccessful, and George was expelled from the castle.
He remained in the neighbourhood and kept up correspondence
with her. With the assistance of William Douglas, a young relative
of the family, the second attempt, on May 2d, 1568, was entirely
successful. The young lad stole the keys of the castle from
the place where they were kept, while his lord was at supper.
"He let the queen and a waiting-woman out of the apartment
where they were secured, and out of the door itself, embarked
with them in a small skiff, and rowed them to the shore. To
prevent instant pursuit, he, for precaution's sake, locked the
iron grated door of the tower, and threw the keys into the lake.
They found George Douglas and the queen's servant, Beaton, waiting
for them, and Lord Seton and James Hamilton of Orbieston in
attendance, at the head of a party of faithful followers, with
whom they fled to Niddrie Castle, and from thence to Hamilton."
The freedom of the unfortunate queen was of short duration,
however, ending with her defeat at Langside. The keys of the
castle were recovered when the loch was lowered, and are now
in the Armoury at Abbotsford. The castle later served as a prison
for the Earl of Northumberland after his rebellion in England
and capture in Scotland. He was confined here from 1569 to 1572,
and then delivered to Elizabeth, by whose orders he was executed.
If
you would like to Tour Loch Leven on a highly personalized small
group tour of my native Scotland please e-mail me: Sandy
Stevenson
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