Blackness Castle

Blackness Castle lies on a little rocky peninsula on the southern shore of the Forth looking a bit like a ship at high tide.. It was built about 1440 beside the harbour which served the important Royal burgh of Linlithgow and until 1707 was used as a state prison for important high ranking prisoners, including Cardinal Beaton. At the Act of Union it was agreed that the castle would be one of the four fortresses kept in Scotland as a chain of forts for the defence of the Lowlanders against Highland aggression and then later it was used to imprison French prisoners during the Napoleonic Wars
In 1870, the castle was converted once again to become the principal ammunition depot for Scotland and during the First World War was briefly reused as a military installation.
In the afternoon sunshine today there were many people enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and probably unaware of its previous links to captivity and war.