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 northwest of Stirling, where the Teith flows into the River Forth. Upstream, 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 13th 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 (–1420), the son of Robert II of Scotland, 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 the then 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.

History

thumb|left|upright|Doune Castle sited above the [[River Teith]]

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,

Regent Albany

thumb|Seal of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany and Regent of Scotland

In 1361, Robert Stewart (–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 (–1554), was made Captain of Doune Castle, and Sir James' son, also James (–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 John Graham, 3rd Earl of Montrose and John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, at Doune Castle.

Ruin and restoration

thumb|left|Doune Castle – northeast corner

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.

Description

thumb|400px|Ground floor and first floor plans of the castle

Doune occupies a strategic site, close to the geographical centre of Scotland, and only 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.

In fiction and drama

thumb|300px| Doune Castle in an 1803 engraving in the publication [[Scotia Depicta preceding Scott's depiction of the castle in his novel Waverley]]

Doune Castle has featured in several literary works, including the 17th-century ballad, "The Bonny Earl of Murray", which relates the murder of James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Moray, by George Gordon, 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.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail

thumb|upright|The east wall of Doune Castle, where the opening scene of Monty Python and the Holy Grail takes place

The British comedy film Monty Python and the Holy Grail – a parody of the legends of King Arthur by the Monty Python team – was filmed on location in Scotland in 1974. The film's producers had gained permission from the National Trust for Scotland to film scenes at several of their Scottish castles, as well as the permission of Lord Moray to film at Doune Castle. However, the National Trust later withdrew their permission, leaving the producers with little time to find new locations. Instead, they decided to use different parts of Doune Castle to depict the various fictional castles in the film, relying on tight framing of shots to maintain the illusion.

Scenes featuring Doune Castle include:

  • Near the start of the film, King Arthur (Graham Chapman) and Patsy (Terry Gilliam) approach the east wall of Doune Castle and argue with soldiers of the French garrison.
  • The song and dance routine "Knights of the Round Table" at "Camelot" was filmed in the Great Hall.
  • The servery and kitchen appear as "Castle Anthrax", where Sir Galahad the Chaste (Michael Palin) is chased by seductive girls.
  • The wedding disrupted by Sir Lancelot (John Cleese) was filmed in the courtyard and Great Hall.
  • The Duchess' hall was used for filming the Swamp Castle scene where the prince (Terry Jones) is being held in a tower by ignorant guards (Graham Chapman and Eric Idle).
  • The Trojan Rabbit scene was filmed in the entryway and into the courtyard.

The only other castles used for filming were Castle Stalker in Argyll, also privately owned, which appears as "Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh" at the end of the film, and (briefly) Kidwelly Castle in Wales and Bodiam Castle in East Sussex. The DVD version of Monty Python and the Holy Grail includes a documentary, In Search of the Holy Grail Filming Locations, in which Michael Palin and Terry Jones revisit Doune and other sites used for filming. Doune Castle has become a place of pilgrimage for fans of Monty Python and the film. It used to hold an annual "Monty Python Day".

References

Bibliography

  • Doune Castle – site information from Historic Environment Scotland
  • Engraving of Doune Castle by James Fittler in the digitised copy of Scotia Depicta, or the antiquities, castles, public buildings, noblemen and gentlemen's seats, cities, towns and picturesque scenery of Scotland (1804) at National Library of Scotland