- Type
- Palace / château
- Built
- c. 1501 · 16th century
- Location
- Scotland, United Kingdom
- Style
- Renaissance architecture
- Coordinates
- 56.2548°, -3.2061°
History
Falkland was earlier the site of a castle of the Earls of Fife, where in 1402 the Duke of Rothesay, heir to the Scottish throne, died in murky circumstances. The present palace was begun around 1501 by James IV, and his son James V enlarged it in the 1530s, bringing in French master masons who gave the courtyard facades their Renaissance form. James V died here in 1542, and his daughter Mary, Queen of Scots loved to come here to hunt. In 1654 part of the palace burned in a fire started by Cromwell's soldiers. From 1887 the Marquess of Bute restored it, and today it is cared for by the National Trust for Scotland.
What to see
Visitors see the palace with its gatehouse flanked by round towers, the Chapel Royal with its painted ceiling, and the recreated royal apartments in the east range. In the garden is a real tennis court of 1539, thought to be the oldest still in use in Britain. The palace stands in the heart of a picturesque village at the foot of the Lomond Hills.
Wikipedia article Official website Wikidata Q565345
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