Stirling

We have arrived at our hotel in Stirling. It's too early to check-in but we are going to store our luggage & turn in the rental car. Our hotel, which opened in 1991 is in a building built in the 1800s as a high school. The restaurant, bar, and meeting rooms have names reflecting the building's heritage ( eg "The Scholar's Restaurant", and the "History" meeting room). Pretty neat!

This was the main entrance to the high school, but is the rear entrance to the hotel.

We had some time to wander about the city until our room was ready. We, quite accidentally, ran into the William Wallace statue (and right beside it was a Christmas shop that I had to visit :)). We also saw the Church of the Holy Rude, but didn't go in, instead we wandered through the graveyard and up to a lookout point. From the lookout point Jeff and I took a selfie with Stirling Castle in the background. We have tickets to get in the castle tomorrow. We did walk up to the entrance and took the picture of King Robert the Bruce who was King in the 14th century.

William Wallace

Robert the Bruce

Our selfie with Stirling Castle in the background.

Stirling Castle

This morning we spent an incredible 2.5 hours in Stirling Castle. We could easily have spent more time here immersed in its fascinating history, but alas, had to leave to get a bite to eat before hitting our next stop. This Castle has been in existence since the 1100s , however, Robert the Bruce had it pretty much destroyed to keep the English from occupying it. Thus, the oldest building dates to the 1300s. The castle has been in constant use since the 1300s and has been extensively modified for each purpose it has served. The organization that maintains the Castle are working to restore it to how it looked prior to its military occupation (by the Scots military) in the 1700s. The military left the Castle in 1964.

This was the Great Hall. The military covered the walls and kept the paintings hidden for 200 years. Once the military moved out the coverings were removed and the painting was rediscovered.

The cloth of estate. The monarch sat under this. This isn't the original throne.

This building is the oldest standing structure in the Castle.

We toured the old jail (which replaced an older jail) which was built in the Victorian Era and was a "reformed" prison...meaning that its prisoners were not punished but were rehabilitated and taught skills and reading so that, it was hoped, they could lead productive lives once out of prison. At least the male prisoners were. The female prisoners had to do the cooking, cleaning and laundry and were not taught to read as the warden determined that their work was too important to the prison (a little sexist, but this was the 1800s). However, any female prisoner that gave birth was allowed to keep her child with her for 6 months. Children were also imprisoned here. All prisoners were forbidden to speak and they were kept completely segregated from one another and were allowed outside (one at a time) for 30 minutes a day, regardless of the weather.

After our tour of the old jail we walked next door to the Church of the Holy Rude. "Holy Rude" was a medieval term for Cross of Christ's crucifixion. We were lucky to have a guide with extensive knowledge of the history of the church and she took us around for an in-depth tour. This church was built in sections, with the oldest being built in during the 1400s and still has the original roof. The newer section was built a century later. Mary, Queen of Scots worshipped here as a Catholic, then the rather violent Protestant Reformation happened and the church became Protestent. Extensive damage was done to the Church to remove symbols of Idolatry and Catholicism, but a few are still there. Mary's son, James was crowned in the church at 13 months old, and John Knox preached here. Also, this is the only surviving church in Scotland that has held a coronation.

This is the original roof of the Church. It is made of the wood of 300 Scottish oak trees. No nails or screws hold it in place, rather, oak pegs were used.

This was the original bell installed. It hung in the church from the 13th century until 1971 when it was removed and brought down into the church. It had developed a crack which could not be fixed.