Edzell Castle

Overview

Edzell Castle is most notable for its Renaissance-styled walled garden. The walls of the garden contain recesses for plants and are decorated with large carvings that depict the 7 virtues on one side and the 7 sins on the other.

Edzell castle gardens feature a very symmetric layout of neatly clipped hedges. When viewed from the castle tower you can see that the hedgerows are arranged so that they spell out the Lindsay family motto, "Dum Spiro Spero, Endure Forte." This translates as "While I breathe I hope, to endure bravely"

Edzell Castle is, apart from the gardens, mainly in ruins and there is not a great deal for the visitor to see. You can still climb up 2 levels of the spiral staircase of the 16th century tower house and you get the best views of the garden from here. The spiral staircase ends very abruptly at the top with the last few steps missing, but there is a barrier so children should be safe.

Edzell Castle, like so many others in Scotland, was briefly visited by Mary Queen of Scots on the 23 - 24 August 1562. She did like to travel it seems!

The other distinctive feature of Edzell Castle is the very pink sandstone from which it is constructed. apparently, the original castle walls would have been covered with a form of rough plaster, but that has now fallen away to reveal a very neat construction of red sandstone boulders.

When you visit Edzell Castle, look out for the ghost of the "Wailing White Lady". The ghost is said to be Catherine Campbell, wife of the 9^th Earl of Crawford who owned the castle in the late 1500s. In the winter of 1578, Catherine fell ill and appeared to be dead, so her body was laid to rest in the family mausoleum. Thieves then broke into the Mausoleum and tried to steal a ring from her “corpse” by cutting off a finger. The pain jolted Catherine back to consciousness, so she walked back to the castle in a state of confusion and covered in blood from her hand. According to local legend, the guards were too terrified by the sight of their dead Mistress to open the door, so she perished from exposure outside the castle walls.

The nearby village of Edzell is also worthy of a mention as it is a very quaint-looking collection of houses with a few local shops and a nice hotel/pub.

Save money on visiting this attraction by buying an Explorer Pass