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Bishop's Castle

Glasgow City Archives, Photographic Series

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Bishop's Castle

A scale model of the Bishop's Castle showing it as it would have appeared in the Pre-Reformation period.

The tall, fortified building at the heart of the complex is the Bishop's Palace, built in the 13th century and subsequently greatly extended and improved. On the left at the southwest corner is the Great Tower, erected in the 1430s. The 15-feet high stone wall with battlements was erected in the early 1500s to replace an earlier timber palisade. At the southeast corner is the imposing gatehouse, built by Bishop Gavin Dunbar in the 1540s.

The castle had a chequered history, having been stormed and looted in 1517 and 1544 and holding out against the army of Mary Queen of Scots in 1570. By the early 18th century it had become a ruin, its walls and towers wrecked by local builders in search of masonry blocks. The castle's ruinous remains were entirely removed in the early 1790s when Glasgow Royal Infirmary was built on the site, and it is remembered today only in the name of Castle Street.

Reference: P2122

Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning

Keywords:
battlements, Bishop's Castle, Bishop's Palace, castles, gatehouses, Glasgow Royal Infirmary, Great Tower, scale models, sieges, towers



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