I took a tour of the island in 2009 when the main castle was but four walls. The residence on the hill had been completely vandalized, but the tour guides gave us a great look at the fascinating history.
They said the interior of the warehouse was built from timber taken from ships, tarred and soaked in creosote, which fed the conflagration. In spite of best efforts, the walls keep falling and there's not much left. Here's an album of my photos from that trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/widdgget/albums/72157633744308787/
Very interesting stuff, thank you! Little number transposition - the battle of Bannockburn was in 1314, not 1614.
Just had a look at Google earth, it seems much worse than the "Present day aerial view. Via Militaria" unfortunately.
Whoops, date corrected. You saw the original version of the article, I had since changed the caption to reflect that the photo was pre-2010.
I took a tour of the island in 2009 when the main castle was but four walls. The residence on the hill had been completely vandalized, but the tour guides gave us a great look at the fascinating history.
They said the interior of the warehouse was built from timber taken from ships, tarred and soaked in creosote, which fed the conflagration. In spite of best efforts, the walls keep falling and there's not much left. Here's an album of my photos from that trip: https://www.flickr.com/photos/widdgget/albums/72157633744308787/