September 29, Stirling Castle.

Today we set out for Stirling Castle. Got there fine and though we couldn’t find our way to the castle we found the castle park and ride which was even better. It was chucking down rain. An awful storm when we got to the parking lot but it had stopped by the time we got to the castle. We were just in time for a guided tour. Gary, our guide was so good. He was interesting and injected lots of humour so they we finished the tour feeling we had learned a lot. We learned about various features of the castle and he debunked the inaccuracies of “Braveheart”. We now know the facts of the Battle of Stirling Bridge. The castle sits high on a hill, you can see Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh on a clear day. You can see 50 miles in either direction from the castle. An excellent location.



We had a bite to eat and then started our self guided tour. They give you free audio guides but the people, dressed in period clothing throughout the castle provided so much good information that I rarely used mine. One I particularly enjoyed us in the Queen’s throne room. There are several tapestries, the Unicorn tapestries. They tell two stories. One tells a mythical story of men hunting a unicorn and in the other story the unicorn represents Christ and tells the biblical story of his life, death and resurrection.

Spotting the Unicorn or the Betrayal of Christ

The ceilings had carved faces on them. They are called the Stirling faces and are fascinating. Our guide magically reappeared just as we got to the room displaying and explaining them. Gary was fascinating again. He explained that in the 1700’s one fell down on a soldier so for safety they removed them and put them out for firewood. The jail keeper, Ebinezer Brown, the jailer, learned that they were being destroyed and saved as many as he could. He distributed them to nobility at various castles. In the 1960’s they got as many of them as they could back. There are some interesting stories about them. John Donaldson has made reproductions of many of them. There were 80 of them to fill the ceiling and they were short one so he carved his daughters face and they called it “the carvers daughter”. We almost bought a book about them but decided it was very heavy and will see, when we got internet again, if it is available through Amazon

Carved face at Sterling Castle

Recreation of carved faces on Kings Room ceiling Sterling Castle

I visited the place they weave tapestries while Roy toured the Argylls Regiment museum and then it was time to go. We missed visiting the kitchens and didn’t have time to see the old jail. We wanted to see Bannock Burn Battle site. Both the road signs and Andromeda were useless. Roy went in a pub to ask the way. When we finally found it an Australian couple were coming out and they had experienced the same problems. They were quite excited about telling us all the difficulties they had experience (mirrored our experience). They were told a truck had knocked down the sign outside.

The museum was very interesting but not near as elaborate as the Culloden (last battle fought in Britain). We went there in 2008. After the museum we walked out to Robert the Bruce’s monument and tried to find Bannock Burn but couldn’t. When we went back inside Roy had someone show us on the map where it was. We were looking in the wrong place. Hard to put yourself back in time and imagine 10000 to 15000 men being killed there in the battle. Hurrah for the Scots!

Time to go home to the Laundry Cottage on the Estate.

The castle was another one that was never taken by force. Several times seiges and political manuvering causes it to change hands. The castle was in English hands when Robert the Bruce defeated the English at Bannockburn. Afterward when the English left he did not want the castle to be used against him so he had it destroyed in 1314. The castle was slowly rebuilt over the later centuries. The rebuilding is quite notable as there are many places where several different stones are used at each level. The great hall has a type of stucco covering the stone with a yellow wash over the stucco. The whole castle was originally covered in this, but it has all flaked off. The castle was in disrepair in the 1960’s and was still used to house the army when it was turned over to the Scottish Heritage group for restoration. They have tried to restore the castle to what it was in the 14^th and 15^th century. The Royal apartments were build for James V for his new French Bride in the style of the French and Italian decore. Unfortunately for him he died never having lived in the new building. His wife and daughter (daughter became Mary Queen of Scots) did live there until Mary was 4 or 5 when they left to join the French court.

The Stirling faces carved in oak copies were carved by John Donaldson. The are round panels done in the raise plane style. He made copies which are placed on the ceiling of the Kings Hall. John was watching a show on Harps and how the music is 0,I, and II. He thought it re-minded him of something. It finally came to him that he had seen it on one of the carvings. It looked there is a mistake on the border of on that carving. Above the mistake and all around are 0’s, I’s, and II’s. It could be a music score but they are not sure, and the mistake is the start of the score. What they have done is taken the music score, recorded the playing of it on a harp and the recording is played on the way into the galley. There is another strange thing. One of the original panels is of a women looks like her throat is cut and it goes up through the left eye. This is due to the delamination of the wood glued together to make the carving. The new copy is also delaminating in exactly the same spot. The Argyalls were the original thin red line during the Crimea war.