MacDuff Castle - another Colville occupied castle from 1530 - 1637!!

Before heading to MacDuff Castle, we first made a stop at Balgonie Castle to visit with our distant cousins who own Balgonie Castle. I will get to that post after I complete MacDuff.

MacDuff castle is located near East Wemyss in Fife, Scotland. It is believed to have been built by the MacDuff Thanes, Earls of Fife in the 11th century during the time of King Macbeth of Scotland. The Wemyss family owned the castle in the 14th century, later it was owned by the Livingstons. In 1530 they exchanged estates with Sir James Colville who added a second tower and enclosed a courtyard. It is this second tower that remains standing. The Colvilles lived in the castle for the next 100 years until the death of the 2nd Lord Colville. In 1637 it was bought by Sir John Wemyss from Lord Colville of Culross.  In 1906 Laird Randolph Wemyss took steps for the conservation of the castle and during that time, the arms of the Colville family were found in the sand. **

**from The Heart and West of Fife, by Graham S. Coe.
This is an excellent book with descriptions of the castles in Fife area and was a great help to us in locating MacDuff and a few other castles! We were given this book by Stuart Morris at Balgonie Castle. A wonderful gift and a great help in our searches!

MacDuff is set right on the coast,  high up on a hill. We had to climb many, many steps to get up to it, and had a spectacular view of the North Sea, or the Firth of Forth, (not sure exactly where one ends and the other begins) while we climbed. It's weathered condition is due to being built of sandstone, in addition to lack of care. It is now a ruin and owned by Historic Scotland and is said to be haunted by a 'Grey Lady' who is said to be Mary Sabbald who died in the castle.

Link to more information here:
History of MacDuff Castle

To find this castle, we were instructed to go through the village of  East Wemyss, to the MacDuff cemetery and walk on the footpath to the ruin. We took the 'long' way around rather than following the footpath next to the cemetery, and therefore were able to come upon it from the seaside view (front side) rather than the back (courtyard) side of it.
Pictures of the castle and cemetery just in front of it, and some gravestones. Some very recent, some from years back .....

Davidson name being shortened to Davis
my husband's family name

Battle of Bannockburn

Before seeing the Falkirk Wheel, we headed over to the new visitor center located in the vacinity of the Battle of Bannockburn. The Battle of Bannockburn was a battle for Scottish Independence from England. Stirling Castle which was occupied by the English, was seized by Robert the Bruce in 1314, who had seized the Scottish throne in 1306. Once again, battles/ wars for freedom from England ensued. Historians are not sure exactly where the Battle of Bannockburn took place, but many feel that where the new visitor center has been built may not be exactly correct, but is in the correct area of Scotland. With this was having begun in June of 1314, this past June was the 700th anniversary of the battle. The opening of this new visitor center was scheduled for June and many festivities were planned during that time. We were there in July, just shortly after this big celebration. There is a magnificent statue of Robert the Bruce in the center of the yard, and the location is high on a hill which allows you to look over Stirling. Here are pictures from the museum/visitor center and of the statue as well as views of the countryside surrounding this location: