Scalloway Castle

Scalloway Castle is a tower house in Scalloway, on the Shetland Mainland, the largest island in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. The tower was built in 1600 by Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, during his brief period as de facto ruler of Shetland.

In 1564, Robert Stewart (1533–1593), illegitimate son of King James V, was granted lands in Orkney and Shetland and subsequently established himself as a powerful but unscrupulous figure in the islands. Despite numerous complaints against him for seizing lands and misusing taxes, Stewart was later made Earl of Orkney and Lord of Shetland by King James VI. He remained unpopular with the local lairds, and they subsequently turned the king against Stewart, who died impoverished in 1593, having had his earldom revoked in 1587. Robert Stewart's son Patrick (c. 1566 – 6 February 1615), who had been on unfriendly terms with his father, remained in the king's favour and was himself created Lord of Shetland in 1590.

He effectively succeeded as Earl of Orkney on his father's death, though this was not formalised until 1600. In Shetland he continued to appropriate lands and feuded with the lairds: Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie, son of Robert Stewart's ally, became his chief opponent.

Following his charter of the Earldom in 1600, Stewart began the construction of Scalloway Castle which was completed around 1607. His main residence was the Earl's Palace, built by his father on Birsay, Orkney, while Scalloway was used by his representative in Shetland. The new castle also served as a meeting place for the thing (parliament) of Shetland during Earl Patrick's ascendancy. Construction of the castle was undertaken by unpaid workers, summoned by Patrick from the parishes of Shetland, and was overseen by his master of works, Andrew Crawford. Crawford was probably also responsible for Patrick's Earl's Palace in Kirkwall, and Muness Castle on Unst, built for Bruce of Cultmalindie.

In 1609 the Shetland lairds complained to the king of Earl Patrick's misrule of the islands. Patrick was subsequently imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle, and was executed in 1615 for encouraging his son Robert to retake his Orkney possessions. Meanwhile, control of the islands was given over to James Law, Bishop of Orkney, who held his first court at Scalloway Castle in August 1612.

Text adapted from “Scalloway Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Scalloway Castle ranks #2,789 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #97 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1599, it is older than 33% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. 1 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

View on the interactive castle map →

Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗