Photographs from Scotland (6)

Following up my promise of yesterday, here are five more photographs of Stirling Castle. These show, in order, the Chapel Royal, the successor to previous chapels on the site, built in 1594 for the baptism of James VI's (later James I of England) first-born son Henry, who as we know did not survive to inherit the throne; the Grand Battery, built in 1689 in response to the brief rebellion that broke out in Scotland following the deposition of James VII/James II and his replacement by William and Mary; the Douglas Garden and the north face of the King's Old Building, as remodelled in 1855 following a fire; the North Gate, the outer parts of which date from 1381 and are probably the oldest visible masonry in the castle; and a panorama of the Nether Bailey below the North Gate, a large irregular enclosure on a lower terrace in which four powder magazines were erected in 1810. At the time of our visit, the wall walks around this were cordoned off as unsafe, because the very cold winter of 2009-2010 had resulted in the pitting and spalling of the masonry, repairs to which had still to commence.