This book presents a perspective from two of Historic Scotland's advisers on the built heritage in reference to restoration projects undertaken by the owners and developers of castles. It arises from an initiative undertaken by Historic Scotland on behalf of the Scottish government, which includes a case-study approach to best practice intended for the attention of prospective restorers.
Admitting that it is a ‘small book’, the authors provide a short historical overview. They acknowledge that the definition of what a castle is forms the subject matter of debate. Their aim is to consider the uses to which castles may be put in the present and their emphasis concerns domestic arrangements rather than defensive capabilities. They proceed to examine attitudes towards castles as ancestral residences and how they were preserved up to the nineteenth century, arguing that many landowners regarded the castles they inherited as ‘a highly potent expression of their own proud lineage and dignity’ (p 16). Chapter 3 addresses a growing awareness concerning the possibility of restoring castles to a ‘historic state’. Fawcett and Rutherford examine the development of attitudes in which castles could be seen as authentic survivors from the past as well as providing space for renewed use, whether as monuments or as places in which to live.
The second section of the book presents a series of case studies where the intention of castle owners has been to conserve the buildings as ruins. The owners include both individual persons and public bodies. Fawcett and Rutherford discuss conservation in connection with a desire to make the castle accessible to the public, recognizing that conservation is a matter for reconsideration when an increase in the number of visitors results in deterioration requiring more conservation.
A further set of case studies feature in section three. The projects selected for inclusion concern restoration for family homes, holiday accommodation, an office for a firm of architects, clan and community centres and a property in the care of Historic Scotland (the great hall, Stirling Castle). Some of the castles were in a ruinous condition and two of them have been partially restored (Balgonie and Melgund). Others had survived because new uses were found for them, whether agricultural or as a military barrack.
The conclusions in section four reiterate the importance of the legislative context, previously raised in Chapter 3, in the light of the Scottish Historic Environment Policy, an online document that periodically has been updated. Fawcett and Rutherford emphasize the need for a thorough consideration of the appropriateness of the layout and character of the castle for its new intended use. They point out that restoration may not always provide a permanent means of conservation (p 163).
In an afterword, David Walker notes that the restoration in Scotland of castles has largely been a phenomenon of the second half of the twentieth century and that the establishment in 1953 of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland enabled the disbursement of grant aid. He singles out Barra Castle in Aberdeenshire as a successful approach undertaken prior to this development by the architect George Bennet Mitchell, who in 1910–11 succeeded in accommodating the needs of the Irvine family of Straloch by retaining ‘its uniquely unspoiled atmosphere … without any addition or alteration’ (p 165). The number of recent planning applications in the local press for changes to the fabric of Barra Castle suggest that its current occupants do not see themselves fitting into the castle in this manner.
This book, therefore, is timely. Its intended readership is people who are interested in castles as well as persons considering or seeking to adapt or restore them. It will work less well as a university text because there is no system of referencing. For novices in Scottish castles and restoration there is a list of suggested reading, but readers must work out for themselves how those sources were used in the writing of this book. Technical terms are not explained. For example, bolection-type mouldings (p 128) and the corbelled-out segmental joggled arch (p 139) are left to the imagination of the reader. There is a photograph to accompany the latter, but it is too dark to demonstrate the feature. The captions on p 15 have been transposed – Crichton's accompanies Tolquon and vice versa. It took me a while to work out that the references to figure 1.1 from Chapter 6 onwards are misleading because the .1 part has been omitted. It is curious in a book emphasizing the need to differentiate rebuilding of the historic fabric of masonry castles (as in the rebuilding of Rothesay Castle in 1900) that the Bass of Inverurie should be used as an example of well-preserved earthwork castle, when it too underwent nineteenth-century remodelling.
