Do people still live in Scottish castles?

Some castles in Scotland are still structurally intact, others are in various states or disrepair or remain only as ruins. A number of them are are open to the public for viewing, or have been converted into hotels. A few are currently in use as private residences, Every one of them is unique and fascinating.



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Does anyone live in a castle today? Queen Elizabeth and her staff live in Windsor Castle. The Duke of Northumberland lives in Alnwick Castle. Many castles in Scotland, Wales and England, with many Noble families owning them and living there.

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No-one lives in Edinburgh Castle now. From the 17th century onwards it was used as a military base. Parts are still run by the army, but it is now predominantly a tourist attraction.

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Windsor Castle is the oldest and largest inhabited castle in the world and has been the family home of British kings and queens for almost 1,000 years. It is an official residence of Her Majesty The Queen and is still very much a working royal palace today, home to around 150 people.

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Last September, Queen Elizabeth II took her last breath at her beloved Balmoral Castle in the Scottish Highlands with her son King Charles III, grandson Prince William, and other family members by her side.

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Hermitage Castle is found in a beautiful rural location in Liddesdale and its turbulent history has led to it being described as 'the guardhouse of the bloodiest valley in Britain'. Partly restored in the 19th century, the castle was originally built by Lord de Soules in the 1240s.

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By the 1600s, people didn't want to live in cold and damp castles anymore. Kings, queens and noble men wanted to show off how important and rich they were so they built palaces and great houses. Many existing castles were replaced with much grander homes.

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Bowman's Castle, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, built in 1789, the oldest Gothic Revival castle in the United States. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Bull Run Castle, Aldie, Virginia, hand-built from 1980 to 1999 by the owner, John Roswell Miller, and his family.

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There's a lot to see on the National Mall, but don't miss the Smithsonian Castle, which sits between the Washington Monument and the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Gothic Revival-style castle was completed in 1855 and houses the Smithsonian Institution's administrative offices and information center.

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Abbeys and castles across Scotland are either fully or partially closed due to unstable masonry. The National can reveal that the problem has severely disrupted Historic Environment Scotland's (HES) plans to re-open its staffed attractions on a phased basis.

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Castles weren't always cold and dark places to live. But, in reality, the great hall of castle had a large open hearth to provide heat and light (at least until the late 12th century) and later it had wall fireplace. The hall would also have had tapestries which would have insulated the room against too much cold.

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The Castle of Mey was the property of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother from 1952 until 1996, when Her Majesty generously gifted it with an endowment to the Trust. The castle is situated on the north coast of Caithness, in the parish of Canisbay, about 15 miles east of Thurso and six miles west of John O'Groats.

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It was then that the Scottish court departed from Edinburgh for London, which left the castle with only a military function. The final monarch to reside at the castle was Charles I in 1633 before his coronation as King of the Scots.

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