299 Of 365: Rosyth Castle

    Once standing on a small island connected to the mainland by a causeway, Rosyth Castle is an altered 15th-century tower, now L-plan. It consists of a main block of three storeys and an attic, and a projecting stair tower, and stands in a ruined 16th-century courtyard. The courtyard was formerly enclosed by a high barmkin wall and ranges of buildings, but these have mostly gone on two sides. The castle is dated 1561. 

    The entrance to the castle is in the re-entrant angle and leads, through a lobby, to the vaulted basement and to a stair to the first-floor hall. The hall is barrel-vaulted, and has a large 17th-century window. The second floor was occupied by a single chamber, and there was a garret. 

   This was a property of the Stewarts of Rosyth from 1428 until the beginning of the 18th century. It was for the family that Walter Bower, Abbot of Inchcolm, compiled a history of Scotland, known as the ‘Scotichronicon’, in the 1440s. One of the family, Robert Stewart of Rosyth, was a supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Harry Stewart, laird of Rosyth, had a ratification of 1592 which mentions the tower, fortalice etc. James Stewart of Rosyth, was imprisoned in 1647 for being a Royalist, and Rosyth was sacked by Cromwell’s forces in 1650.

   It originally stood on a small island in the Firth of Forth accessible only at low tide, and dates from around 1450, built as a secure residence by Sir David Stewart, who had been granted the Barony of Rosyth in 1428.
   The original tower house (58 feet high) was enlarged and extended in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

   In 1572 it was attacked by men from Blackness Castle on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and it was occupied in 1651 by Oliver Cromwell's army after the Battle of Inverkeithing.

   It remained a Stewart residence until it was sold in the late seventeenth century to David Drummond of Invermay. It ultimately ended up in the possession of the Earl of Hopetoun and from the eighteenth century onward remained unoccupied. During this and later periods large parts of the stonework were re-used in other structures, and the later courtyard buildings were almost razed to the ground, leaving only the tower and north courtyard wall remaining significantly above ground-floor level.

   It became Admiralty property in 1903 and as the result of land reclamation lost its waterfront position, becoming marooned within the dockyard. Although plans were made to restore and use the building, they came to nothing and the structure was made safe in its current condition. It passed into private hands when large tracts of the surrounding dockyard were sold.