The Castles of Scotland Trivia Quiz

Answer: Royal Scottish Academy

It is unclear when Edinburgh Castle was first built, but the oldest building within the site that still stands today appears to be St Margaret's Chapel, which was named after St Margaret, the wife of Malcolm III, and is thought to have been built by her son in the 12th century.

The castle was extended, and used as a royal palace, from the reign of David II in 1357, and the Royal Palace was built in the 15th century. Once James VI became King of England as well as Scotland in 1603, and moved to London, the castle was used as a military garrison and a prison, before becoming a museum in 1991.

The National War Museum of Scotland was opened in 1933, and covers over 400 years of Scottish military history.

The Royal Scottish Academy, the national academy of art, is located on Princes Street, a short walk from the castle.

Answer: Forth

Blackness Castle has a commanding position on the south side of the River Forth, and was built in the 1440s by Sir George Crichton, then the Lord High admiral of Scotland. It consists of three main towers, which are still mostly complete, and was predominantly used as a prison, until it became the central ammunition depot for Scotland in the late nineteenth century.

At that time, a pier was built, which boats can still use today to allow quicker access to the castle.

Answer: Mary Queen of Scots

Mary Queen of Scots was captured near Edinburgh by a group of Scottish noblemen who objected to her recent marriage to the Earl of Bothwell. She was taken to the castle, which at that time was guarded by Sir William Douglas, and imprisoned in the tower; she miscarried twins shortly afterwards.

Mary managed to escape from the castle in 1568 with the help of Sir William's brother. However, her freedom did her no good as she and her supporters were later defeated in battle, and she spent the next twenty years in various other prisons, with no outside help.

Answer: David Beaton

St Andrews was one of the main centres of the Scottish Reformation, and many of the key figures of the Reformation met their ends in the town. Cardinal David Beaton, the nephew of his predecessor, became archbishop of St Andrews in 1538, and in 1546 he ordered the burning of the Protestant preacher, George Wishart. Later that year some of Wishart's friends stormed the castle, where Beaton was living, and murdered the cardinal before hanging his body out of one of the windows.

Subsequently the castle was put under siege, and it was mined and then countermined. The tunnels can be explored today, although unfortunately you can only go a short way, before you hit solid rock.

Answer: Walled garden

Edzell Castle was built in the 16th century by the 9th Earl of Crawford and consists of a tower house and a courtyard. The castle was used more as a country house as opposed to a defensive fortress, and it is perhaps for this reason that the son of the 9th Earl, Sir David Lindsay, planned a walled garden in 1604.

The garden's walls are decorated by various intricate carvings - these have varying designs, such as the British national symbols of the thistle and the rose, and the Lindsay coat of arms. There are also carved panels displaying the cardinal virtues, the liberal arts and the planetary deities.

The plants within the garden are also symbolic, as the hedges are clipped into the shapes of the thistle, the rose and the fleur-de-lis, and other plants spell out the Lindsay family motto.

Answer: Crown Jewels

Dunnottar Castle was mainly built between the 15th and 16th centuries, and overlooks the North Sea almost 20 miles (32 km) south of Aberdeen. During the English Civil War the owner of the castle, William Keith, supported the Covenanters, who were against the king, but after the king's execution he declared his allegiance for the king's son.

When the son was crowned Charles II in Scotland in 1651, it was decided that the Scottish Crown Jewels should be hidden at Dunnottar, to avoid their being seized by Oliver Cromwell who had put troops in Edinburgh. The jewels were later removed and placed in the nearby church - they only returned to the king shortly before his coronation in Westminster in 1661.

Answer: Unst

Unst is the most northerly inhabited island in Britain, and is one of the islands of Shetland. Muness Castle lies at the southern end if the island, and it was built in 1598 for the half brother of Robert Stewart, the first Earl of Orkney. It was partially burnt only 30 years after its construction, and then abandoned before the end of the 17th century.

Answer: Urquhart

Urquhart Castle is the only castle that stands on the banks of Loch Ness, whose claim to fame is that it is home to the Loch Ness monster. There are been buildings on the site since at least the early Middle Ages, although the present castle was not built until the 13th century. The castle, which consists of an impressive drawbridge and two separate enclosures, was important during both the Scottish wars of independence in the 14th century, and was involved in many clan battles.

Part of the castle was destroyed in 1692 so that it could not be used by the local Jacobite forces, and it was ruined during the subsequent century.

Answer: "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

Doune Castle, which was built in the 13th century and left in ruins by the start of the 19th, was mainly used as a royal hunting lodge by the early Stewart monarchs, and later as a military garrison and prison during the Jacobite uprisings.

The castle became slightly more well-known after 1974 when it was used during the filming of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail". The producers had intended to use several Scottish castles, but after permission was refused from the National Trust for Scotland, who owned the other castles, they decided to only use Doune Castle to represent the various castles in the film.

During the 21st century, the castle was again used in the "Outlander" television series as well as the 2008 film "Outlaw King", thus ensuring its popularity among a new generation of filmgoers.

Answer: The Hunt of the Unicorn

Stirling Castle is located on a rock overlooking the River Forth, and the first buildings were constructed in the early 12th century. It was mainly used as a royal palace until the union with the English monarchy in 1603, after which it was used as a military garrison and prison.

Since the late 20th century there has been an ongoing restoration project in the castle; the Great Hall's restoration was completed in 1999, and the Royal Palace has also been restored to how it would have looked in the 1540s, when it was first constructed. As part of this restoration Historic Environment Scotland, who own the castle, commissioned new replicas of the Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries, which show the capture and death of a unicorn in France - these tapestries now hang in the palace.

The tapestries are particularly symbolic as the unicorn is the national animal of Scotland.