Dunfermline Abbey & Stirling Castle

Dunfermline Abbey was another of King David I of Scotland’s abbeys. But this one was personal as it was founded on behalf of his mother, Queen Margaret of Scotland, who was later canonized as a saint. Margaret was buried before the high altar until her canonization, after which a special shrine was built for her and her husband, King Malcolm III. If you are familiar with Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Malcolm was the son of King Duncan (who was murdered in the play by Macbeth). Both in the play and real life, Malcolm avenged his father’s death, taking back the crown.

During the Scottish Reformation, which replaced Catholicism with the Presbyterian religion in Scotland, Margaret’s shrine was destroyed with both her and Malcolm’s remains dispersed and eventually lost. What remained were a couple of stacked slabs upon which her tomb used to sit and upon which visitors often place flowers.

Both Duncan and David were also buried at Dunfermline, along with other Scottish royals of their family. King Robert the Bruce was buried there and can be found under the pulpit of the church that was built inside of the remains of part of the abbey. A beautiful stained glass window showing the wedding of Margaret and Malcolm was also found in the church.

Where Duncan and David’s remains are located, nobody seems certain; just that they were somewhere in the abbey. It seems that Robert the Bruce fared better because he had been buried in the quire of the abbey, which was the part that became the church.

On the whole, this abbey did better than many of David’s abbeys because it survived the Rough Wooing (too far north) and the Reformation zealots were mainly interested in destroying the shrine of a Catholic saint and not necessarily the entire abbey. Around the top of the church end of the abbey is the name “King Robert the Bruce”. That might have helped in saving it.

From Dunfermline, we drove to Bannockburn. This was the site of where Robert the Bruce (who had taken the Scottish crown in 1306) and his army of Scots (and some say Templar Knights, as he accepted many Templars into Scotland who fled persecution in 1307) soundly defeated the English armies of King Edward II in 1314. This was what made Scotland a free and separate country again until King James VI of Scotland also became James I of England in 1603.

A statue of Robert the Bruce on horseback stands above the battlefield as part of a memorial to that victory and to the Bruce himself. They say that the statue is a fairly accurate representation of what he looked like. If so, he was not a handsome guy.

Robert’s 4^th great grandfather was David I. Just a couple generations after David died, the direct royal line died out and the throne was up in the air with twelve claimants for it; all descendants of one or another prior king. Edward I of England was in the position to choose among them and picked John Balliol, mainly because he could use Balliol as a puppet. Long story short (don’t worry, I get to William Wallace shortly), the Bruce ended up as the main candidate and then won at Bannockburn. Stirling Castle could be seen from Bannockburn and that was where we went next.

I love Stirling Castle. This was my second trip to it and it had undergone a lot of improvements since I was there the first time with my mom. Right outside of the castle is another statue of Robert the Bruce, which is a little more idealized. I looked over the wall next to the statue down at Stirling Bridge.

This version of Stirling Bridge was built of stone to replace the wooden bridge that featured so prominently in William Wallace’s victory there. Wallace and his men waited up on Abbey Crag (where the Wallace Monument is today) while the English forces marched across the very narrow (could accommodate only two men on horse abreast) wooden bridge that was the only bridge across the River Forth at Stirling.

Once Wallace felt that enough men had crossed the bridge, the Scots swooped down upon them and pretty much annihilated them. Only one man made it back across the bridge. The English forces burned the bridge so the Scots couldn’t follow them and fled.

At the time of the Battle of Stirling a castle already existed on Castle Crag, although it was not as extensive as the present castle that dates mainly from 15^th and 16^th centuries. However, King Edward I of England’s forces occupied the castle until the Battle of Stirling Bridge when they were dislodged by Wallace and the Scottish forces. The castle then changed hands many times between 1296 (Battle of Stirling Bridge) and the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.

The English once again took over the castle in 1336 and were dislodged by Robert Stewart, who became King Robert II of Scotland in 1342. Up until this time, the castle was mainly timber, mud and plaster. The Stewarts began to build in stone by 1380. But still, the majority of the present castle was constructed between 1490 and 1600 by Kings James IV, James V, and James VI (Mary Queen of Scots’ grandfather, father and son).

This was where Mary Queen of Scots was brought shortly after her birth and lived until she was sent to France at the age of five. Stirling Castle was also where her son was brought shortly after his birth and he continued to live there much of the time until he left for London in 1603. His eldest son, Henry, was born there.

As I said earlier, I love Stirling Castle. This is a castle as a castle should be. Now it is a tourist destination and is not used as a royal residence like Holyrood Palace or a military fortress like Edinburgh Castle. They restored both the palace within the castle and the Great Hall.

There was quite a bit of controversy when the Great Hall was painted externally in a bright gold. But that was what it looked like back when James V was king. It certainly stands out as you can see in an included photo of the Great Hall and the Royal Palace.

The interior of the Great Hall was in the process of being restored when Mom and I had visited before, but it was complete by my 2016 visit, including the restoration of the hammerbeam ceiling. They even served soup, sandwiches, and desserts at the far end of the hall with tables and chairs. I can truthfully say that I have dined in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle.

They also had some men dressed as they would have been back in the day. I love when places have costumed interpreters. Loads more tourist sites in both the US and the UK are doing that now. Gives another dimension to the visit.

The Royal Palace was dark and dingy and didn’t have many rooms open when Mom were there in 2005. Nine years later, nearly the whole palace was open and restored and quite amazing. It’s only been in recent years that interior restorations have added loads of colors to the white, grey or blackened stone walls. This is because these rooms originally had bright colors.

After the palace, I went around to the other buildings in the main courtyard – a chapel and the King’s Old Building (parts of which date back to James I). Then I headed for a garden on the other side of the chapel. From the garden, I took some stairs up the wall to do the wall walk.

From there I could clearly see the Wallace Monument, which is a Victorian tower up on Abbey Crag. It contains his claymore, which is a large, two-handed, double-edged sword. I have one that is close to four feet in length. His is said to be nearly six feet as he was nearly seven feet tall himself.

I stayed on the walls for as long as I could, taking them to the end near the castle kitchens. They are next to the North Gate, which is the oldest part of the castle that is still complete (not like the King’s Old Building or the kitchens which have bits and pieces of various building periods). The kitchens themselves are quite old.

I ended this visit there and headed back out to the car park to catch the small group tour bus back to Edinburgh. Since I arrived a little earlier in the evening than usual with these day trips, I decided to have dinner at the restaurant in the hotel that was called Hadrian’s at that time. I had rabbit with whipped potatoes and baby vegetables.

Next time – another trip to much more of Hadrian’s Wall with the opportunity to actually walk on part of it.

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