Craigmillar Castle

Craigmillar Castle is located on a small hill 4.8 kilometres southeast of Edinburgh city centre. It is one of the few surviving medieval Scottish castles. It was first mentioned as a fortress in written sources in 1212. The oldest part of the castle was built in 1374, and in 1427 there were towers and a powerful wall between them.

The history of the castle is full of bright events. Here was imprisoned the younger brother of King James III, who fell suspected of treason. Here in 1563, Mary Stuart received the English Ambassador with the news that to preserve her friendship with Queen Elizabeth I of England, she should find a worthy husband. It was here that Mary Stuart signed a pact for the murder of her husband Lord Darnley.

In 1660, Sir John Gilmour became the owner of Craigmillar Castle, whose descendants owned the castle until 1775. The remaining ownerless castle fell into disrepair and only in 1842 there was an idea to restore it and arrange in it the Scottish residence of Queen Victoria. But this idea was not destined to be realized, and only in the middle of the twentieth century, Craigmillar Castle became the property of the state and found its second life as a tourist destination.