 |
| Culcreuch Castle |
The first picture is Culcreuch Castle, where we spent last
night. Culcreuch Estate was purchased by Robert Napier, second son of Lord John Napier of Merchiston, in 1632 and he then added the expansion on the right side of
the picture where most of the bed and breakfast rooms are. Our room, the Napier
Suite, was on the right side of the third floor and Steve stayed the floor
above in the Baron Suite. The rooms look like they were either straight out of
the Victorian period or a Scooby Doo mystery.
 |
| Old Stirling Bridge |
Pardon the brief lesson, but I feel I should explain the importance of our next stop at Stirling Castle since most people don't know Scottish history. There were three or
four major events related to the First War of Scottish Independence there. In
the first the forces William Wallace (i.e., Braveheart) defeated an English
force in 1297 at The Battle of Stirling Bridge even though the Scots were
greatly outnumbered. If you look close,
you can see the Stirling Bridge in the center of the second photo in direct
line with the William Wallace Memorial, which is the tower in the distance.
 |
| Stirling Castle |
After that the war continued the forces of Edward I (“Longshanks”
in the Braveheart movie but also called “The Hammer of the Scots”) and the
Scots took turns holding Sterling Castle until 1315. After Edward I had died,
his much weaker son Edward II tried to continue the fight but he was defeated by
Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn and the Scots finally gained their independence. And of course the bottom line to this story is the Scottish only remained independent until 1707 when they were forced to join the Kingdom of Great Britain. You can see Bannockburn from the
castle.
In the afternoon, we drove to Glasgow where had afternoon tea at the Willow Tea Room, walked around and did some shopping. Nice time.
No comments:
Post a Comment