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Craigmillar Castle 'restored', north-east view
Grant, James, 1848, Watercolour
Craigmillar Castle 'restored', north-east view
Craigmillar Castle 'restored', north-east view
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Item no
43426
Title
Craigmillar Castle 'restored', north-east view
Description
Image from James Grant's sketchbook.
Artist / maker
Grant, James
Date
1848
Type
Watercolour
James Grant not only visited Craigmillar Castle to draw the historic ruins, but imagined how it would look if it were to be restored, based on 'old drawings & observations'. In one of the most impressive images from his sketchbook, Grant has shown the castle from the north-west in all its (imagined) glory. The main keep is at the centre, its walls restored to their full height and the Scottish flag proudly on display. The keep is protected by the surrounding curtain wall and the outbuildings behind it have also been imaginatively reroofed. Finally, there is the exterior wall, with its sideways main entrance at the centre. The building behind the exterior wall's corner tower is the private chapel constructed for the Prestons in the early 16th century. The building at the right hand corner of the exterior wall was used as a Presbyterian kirk by the inhabitants of the parish of Liberton in 1687.
The earliest significant record of the castle itself comes from 1479, when John Stewart, Earl of Mar, was imprisoned there by his brother King James III on treason charges. John and James's other brother, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, was indicted for treason in 1479 for jeopardising an alliance with England. Albany fled to France and then made his own alliance with the English, invading Scotland with the future Richard III and seizing political control. He fled and invaded once or twice more, before dying in a joust in Paris in 1485. By comparison, John Stewart died mysteriously in 1479, possibly at Craigmillar, and it has been suspected that James III had his brother murdered.
Exhibitions with this item
James Grant: the artist's imagination
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Architecture
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Turrets
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Written
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Flags
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Castles and palaces
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Edinburgh areas
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Craigmillar
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Scotland
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Edinburgh
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