Scotland has been home to more castles than anywhere else in the UK, with there being around 1,800 castles that have previously, or still do stand today.
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Wales. While Germany may have the most amount of castles, Wales is the country with the most castles per square mile. Despite its small size, Wales had over 600 castles. Today over 400 castles still stand and are waiting to be explored by visitors.
Scottish castles represent the country's long and colourful history. Scotland is home to over 1500 castles but it's thought there may have been as many as 3000 castles! Let's take a closer look at some historic Scottish castles, who lived in them, and how they were built!
There are said to be over 4000 castles in England. These huge monuments stand as a reminder of England's tumultuous past. Nowadays castles are great places to visit to learn more about what life was like in the past as well as how people were able to build such impressive buildings.
Although at one point it is believed there were over 10,000 castles in the current territory of Spain today about 2000 castles still exist and the number of the ones that can be visited is far less.
Why are there so many castles in Scotland? Castles were mainly used as the homes of clan leaders and used for defence purposes. This is why there are so many scattered around the country. They were valuable to hold on to power and protect the local communities.
The Scottish king encouraged Norman and French nobles to settle in Scotland, introducing a feudal mode of landholding and the use of castles as a way of controlling the contested Scottish Lowlands.
There are more than 30,000 castles and ruins left in Ireland today, most dating from the 12th to 16th centuries. Visiting a few (or many) of them will allow you to learn about Irish history right from the source.
Wales. While Germany may have the most amount of castles, Wales is the country with the most castles per square mile. Despite its small size, Wales had over 600 castles.
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.
French Renaissance also kept the steep roofs of medieval castles as can be seen for example at Azay-le-Rideau (1518), and the original Scottish baronial style might have been influenced by French masons brought to Scotland to work on royal palaces.
Located in Poland, Malbork Castle is the largest castle in the world. The castle was founded in 1274 by the Teutonic Knights who used it as their headquarters to help defeat Polish enemies and rule their own northern Baltic territories.
Due to Ireland being a place that was constantly war torn for centuries castles were constantly built, destroyed and then rebuilt. Ireland is also slightly less mountainous than Scotland so there was more land suitable for castle building.