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The tower
Scalloway Castle is a roofless tower of four storeys with corner turrets
The castle is built on an L-plan, with a main tower of 18 by 10 metres. It has four storeys and no roof. The ground level is tunnel-vaulted, with kitchens, stores and a well, and a straight staircase leads up to the hall on the first floor. Around the third floor, bartizans project on decorative corbelling.
The earl
Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, began the tower in 1600
The tower was built in 1600 by Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney, during his brief period as de facto ruler of Shetland, and was completed around 1607. His main residence was the Earl's Palace on Birsay, Orkney. Scalloway was used by his representative in Shetland.
The builders
Unpaid workers from the parishes of Shetland built the castle
The castle also served as the meeting place of the thing, the parliament of Shetland, during Earl Patrick's ascendancy. Its builders were unpaid workers summoned from the parishes of Shetland, overseen by his master of works, Andrew Crawford. Above the door was an inscription, illegible today, recorded in the 18th century.
“That house whose foundation is on a rock shall stand but if on sand shall fall”
Inscription above the door, recorded in the 18th century
Misrule
The lairds turned against the earl, as they had against his father
Robert Stewart, Patrick's father, was a powerful but unscrupulous figure, and the local lairds turned the king against him. Patrick continued to appropriate lands and feuded with the lairds, and Laurence Bruce of Cultmalindie became his chief opponent. In 1609 the Shetland lairds complained to the king of the earl's misrule of the islands.
The end
Patrick was imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle and executed in 1615
After the complaint of 1609, Patrick was imprisoned at Edinburgh Castle, and in 1615 he was executed for encouraging his son Robert to retake his Orkney possessions. James Law, Bishop of Orkney, held his first court at Scalloway Castle in August 1612. By the early 18th century the castle's condition was described as poor, and the ruins went into state care in 1908.
Day 3, morning
Next is Scalloway.
More stories from this trip idea
The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Scalloway Castle, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.