Tour Scotland Spring travel video of a road trip drive, with Scottish music, to visit the castle by Blackness at Blackness Bay, an inlet of the South shore of the Firth of Forth. The castle was built, probably on the site of an earlier fort, by Sir George Crichton in the 1440. Sir George Crichton handed over the Crichton lands, including Blackness Castle, to King James II in 1453. During the Marian civil war which followed the forced abdication of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567, the garrison of Blackness remained loyal to her. However, the Keeper, Alexander Stewart, later changed sides to join the Regent Moray’s party. In 1572, Lord Claud Hamilton recaptured the castle for Mary, harrying shipping in the Forth until the following year, despite being blockaded. On 27 January 1573, James Kirkcaldy, the brother of William Kirkcaldy of Grange who held Edinburgh Castle for Queen Mary, arrived at Blackness from France with arms and money for the Queen’s side. His ship was captured the next day and Regent Morton laid siege. James Kirkcaldy and the castle surrendered within a week. The castle’s defences were not tested again until 1650, when Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army besieged Blackness during his invasion of Scotland. This 15th century castle overlooking the Firth of Forth is used as the setting for Black Jack Randall’s Fort William headquarters in the Outlander series, where Jamie had received lashes from Captain Randall. It is also where Jamie’s father died, having to endure watching his son being punished. Later, in the season 1 mid-season finale, Jamie breaks into the castle, rescuing Claire from the hands of Black Jack, jumping into the water below.

Because of its site, jutting into the Forth, and its long, narrow shape, the castle has been characterised as ” the ship that never sailed “. The north and south towers are often named ” stem ” and ” stern “, with the central tower called the ” main mast.” The castle has been used as a filming location in several productions, including Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet, Bob Carruthers’s 1996 film The Bruce, and the science fiction film Doomsday. On television, Blackness has featured in the mini series of Ivanhoe, and the Starz series Outlander. It was also used as a location for the Scotland historical series Rise of the Clans.

The distance from Perth, Perthshire, to Blackness Castle is 40 miles; the distance from Glasgow to Blackness Castle is 39 miles; the distance from Edinburgh to Blackness Castle is 16 miles.

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