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], a Member of Parliament, married a daughter of the ] in 1789, and was ennobled as Lord Cawdor in 1796. In 1827, his son was created ]. During the 19th century, Cawdor was used as a summer residence by the Earls.<ref name=garden/> The architects Thomas Mackenzie and Alexander Ross were commissioned to add the southern and eastern ranges to enclose a courtyard, accessed by a drawbridge.<ref name=lbr/> In the 20th century ], moved permanently to Cawdor. | ], a Member of Parliament, married a daughter of the ] in 1789, and was ennobled as Lord Cawdor in 1796. In 1827, his son was created ]. During the 19th century, Cawdor was used as a summer residence by the Earls.<ref name=garden/> The architects Thomas Mackenzie and Alexander Ross were commissioned to add the southern and eastern ranges to enclose a courtyard, accessed by a drawbridge.<ref name=lbr/> In the 20th century ], moved permanently to Cawdor. | ||
His second son ](1942–2019) was born here. John was succeeded by the 6th Earl, whose second wife, the ], born Countess Lažanský from Bohemia,<ref> Czech TV reportage</ref> lives there still. In 2001 it was reported that the Countess had prevented her stepson from sowing ] rapeseed on the Cawdor estate,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3291883/Out-out-damn-GMOs.html |title=Out, out, damn GMOs |date=21 July 2001 |work=] }}</ref> and in 2002 the Countess took the Earl to court after he moved into the castle while she was away.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2953814.stm |title='Macbeth' castle reopens to public |date=1 June 2003 |work=] }}</ref> | His second son ](1942–2019) was born here. John was succeeded by the 6th Earl, whose second wife, the ], born Countess Lažanský from Bohemia,<ref> Czech TV reportage</ref> lives there still. In 2001 it was reported that the Countess had prevented her stepson from sowing ] rapeseed on the Cawdor estate,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gardening/3291883/Out-out-damn-GMOs.html |title=Out, out, damn GMOs |date=21 July 2001 |work=] }}</ref> and in 2002 the Countess took the Earl to court after he moved into the castle while she was away.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/2953814.stm |title='Macbeth' castle reopens to public |date=1 June 2003 |work=] }}</ref> | ||
The family name CALDER is believed to be descended from the Boernicians, an ancient founding race of the English/Scottish border dating from about the year 400 A.D. Researchers found the first record of the name CALDER, in Inverness-shire where they had been steamed from very ancient times. | |||
The name Calder can claim distinction of being one of the first Clan names mentioned in the chronicles of Scotland. King Malcolm Canmore, 1057, nine years before the Battle of Hastings, in recording those lowland Clans who helped him valiantly, in 1054, to defeat the usurper King MacBeth in Caithness, starts his list with the Clan Calder. | |||
For their loyal and valuable service to King Malcolm Canmore and his successors, the Calders were awarded the Nairnshire Thaneship of Cawdor, which is notably mentioned in Shakespeare’s play MacBeth. John, 7th Thane of Calder or CAwdor, (Cawdor is the ‘old Scots’ or Gaelic name for Calder) married in 1492, Isabel Rose, daughter of Kilravock. John of Calder died in 1994, leaving an orphan daughter Muriel as his posthumous heir. The baby’s maternal grandfather, Rose of Kilravock, faced criminal prosecution at the time for robbery, and the Justice-General was Archibald, 2nd Earl of Argyll, of the Clan Campbell. | |||
By 1495, Argyll had eased Kilravock’s difficulties and obtained the wardship of the baby Muriel, the heiress of Calder. King James IV appointed as wards her Uncle, Ross of Kilravock, and Archibald, 2nd Earl of Argyll. | |||
Argyll sent an expedition, which contrived to abduct the young heiress, and in 1499 seized her by force and carried her away to Inverary, in Clan Campbell territory.Muriel remained there until of marriageable age. | |||
Upon reaching the age of 16 years, Muriel was married in 1510 to Sir John Campbell, third son of Argyll. He resided permanently at Cawdor Castle from 1524 till 1546, the year of his death. Lady Muriel died in 1573, resigning her Thanedom in favour of her grandson, John (III). Sir John, early in the 17th century, sold Croy, disposed of Ferinosh to Lord Lovat, and mortgaged other lands in order to purchase, or rather to conquer, the island of Islay. The Cawdor family kept possession of Islay from 1612 to 1726, when it was purchased by Daniel Campbell of Shawfield. | |||
Sir John Campbell, son of Sir Alexander (VII), succeeded his father. He married Mary, eldest daughter, and co-heiress of Lewis Pryce, and died in 1777. He was succeeded by his son, Pryce Campbell of Cawdor, M.P., who was succeeded by his son, John, who was elevated to the Peerage in 1796 by the title of Lord Cawdor of Castlemartin, Pembrokeshire. He died in 1821, and was succeeded by his son, John Frederick Campbell, Earl of Cawdor (cr. 1827). He died 27th june 1860, and was succeeded by his eldest son, John Frederick Vaughan Campbell, 2nd Earl of Cawdor. He died in 1898, and was succeeded by his son, Federick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, 3rd Earl of Cawdor, who was born in 1847. The 5th Earl, John Duncan Campbell, succeeded to the title in 1914. | |||
Cawdor Castle, built in 1454, is one of the finest feudal fortresses in Scotland. Tradition says the Thane dreamt that he should place a coffer of gold on an ass’s back and build the castle where the ass stopped, This it did beside a hawthorn tree, which still flourishes in the vault of the great tower of Cawdor Castle. | |||
==Gardens== | ==Gardens== |
Revision as of 00:20, 13 July 2024
Castle in Nairnshire, Scotland
Cawdor Castle | |
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Cawdor Castle from the east | |
Coordinates | 57°31′27″N 3°55′35″W / 57.5243°N 3.9264°W / 57.5243; -3.9264 |
Listed Building – Category A | |
Designated | 26 January 1971 |
Reference no. | LB1728 |
Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland | |
Designated | 1 July 1987 |
Reference no. | GDL00099 |
Location in Highland council area |
Cawdor Castle is a castle in the parish of Cawdor in Nairnshire, Scotland. It is built around a 15th-century tower house, with substantial additions in later centuries. Originally a property of the Calder family, it passed to the Campbells in the 16th century. It remains in Campbell ownership, and is now home to Angelika Campbell, Dowager Countess Cawdor, stepmother of Colin Campbell, 7th Earl Cawdor.
The castle is best known for its literary connection to William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth, in which the title character is made "Thane of Cawdor". However, the story is highly fictionalised, and the castle itself, which is never directly referred to in Macbeth, was built many years after the life of the 11th-century King Macbeth.
The castle is a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.
History
The earliest documented date for the castle is 1454, the date a licence to fortify was granted to William Calder, 6th Thane of Cawdor (or Calder, as the name was then often spelled). However, some portions of the 15th-century tower house or keep may precede that date. Architectural historians have dated the style of stonework in the oldest portion of the castle to approximately 1380. One curious feature of the castle is that it was built around a small, living holly tree. Tradition states that a donkey, laden with gold, lay down to rest under this tree, which was then selected as the site of the castle. The remains of the tree may still be seen in the lowest level of the tower. Modern scientific testing has shown that the tree died in approximately 1372, lending credence to the earlier date of the castle's first construction. The iron yett (gate) here was brought from nearby Lochindorb Castle, which was dismantled by William around 1455, on the orders of King James II, after it had been forfeited by the Earl of Moray.
The castle was expanded numerous times in the succeeding centuries. In 1510 the heiress of the Calders, Muriel, married Sir John Campbell of Muckairn, who set about extending the castle. Their children included Campbell, Katherine Campbell, Countess of Crawford. Further improvements were made by John Campbell, 3rd of Cawdor (c.1576 - c.1642), who purchased rich lands on Islay. By 1635 a garden had been added, and after the Restoration Sir Hugh Campbell of Cawdor added or improved the north and west ranges, employing the masons James and Robert Nicolson of Nairn.
In the 1680s Sir Alexander Campbell, son of Sir Hugh, became stranded in Milford Haven during a storm, where he met a local heiress, Elizabeth Lort of Stackpole Court. The two were married and afterwards the Campbells of Cawdor lived mainly on their estates in Pembrokeshire. Cawdor was home to younger brothers of the family who continued to manage the estates, building a walled flower garden in 1720, and establishing extensive woodlands in the later 18th century.
John Campbell of Cawdor, a Member of Parliament, married a daughter of the Earl of Carlisle in 1789, and was ennobled as Lord Cawdor in 1796. In 1827, his son was created Earl Cawdor. During the 19th century, Cawdor was used as a summer residence by the Earls. The architects Thomas Mackenzie and Alexander Ross were commissioned to add the southern and eastern ranges to enclose a courtyard, accessed by a drawbridge. In the 20th century John Campbell, 5th Earl Cawdor, moved permanently to Cawdor. His second son James Campbell (potter)(1942–2019) was born here. John was succeeded by the 6th Earl, whose second wife, the Dowager Countess Angelika, born Countess Lažanský from Bohemia, lives there still. In 2001 it was reported that the Countess had prevented her stepson from sowing genetically modified rapeseed on the Cawdor estate, and in 2002 the Countess took the Earl to court after he moved into the castle while she was away.
Gardens
The castle is known for its gardens, which include the Walled Garden (originally planted in the 17th century), the Flower Garden (18th century), and the Wild Garden (added in the 1960s). In addition, the castle grounds include a wood featuring numerous species of trees (as well as over 100 species of lichen).
Shakespeare connection
The name of Cawdor still connects the castle to Shakespeare's play Macbeth. However, the story portrayed by Shakespeare takes extensive liberties with history. The historical King Macbeth ruled Scotland from 1040 to 1057, after his forces killed King Duncan I in battle near Elgin. Macbeth was never Thane of Cawdor, this being an invention of the 15th-century writer Hector Boece. Moreover, Cawdor Castle did not exist during the lifetimes of Macbeth or Duncan, and it is never explicitly mentioned in the play. The 5th Earl Cawdor is quoted as saying, "I wish the Bard had never written his damned play!"
References
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "CAWDOR CASTLE (Category A Listed Building) (LB1728)". Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "CAWDOR CASTLE (GDL00099)". Retrieved 25 March 2019.
- Taylor, James (1887). "The Campbells of Cawdor". The Great Historic Families of Scotland. ElectricScotland.com. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- "Campbell, Katherine, countess of Crawford (d. 1578), noblewoman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69900. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
- Czech TV reportage
- "Out, out, damn GMOs". The Telegraph. 21 July 2001.
- "'Macbeth' castle reopens to public". BBC News. 1 June 2003.
- ^ "Shakespeare and Macbeth". Cawdor Castle. Archived from the original on 21 February 2001. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
External links
Media related to Cawdor Castle at Wikimedia Commons
- Cawdor Castle (official website of Cawdor Castle)
- John Frederick Vaughan Campbell Cawdor (1859). Innes Cosmo (ed.). "The Book of the Thanes of Cawdor". Spalding Club. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
Clan Campbell | |
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Branches | |
Lands | |
Castles |
- Castles in Highland (council area)
- Category A listed buildings in Highland (council area)
- Listed castles in Scotland
- Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes
- Gardens in Highland (council area)
- Historic house museums in Highland (council area)
- Country houses in Highland (council area)
- County of Nairn
- Tower houses in Scotland