A haunted tower?

I was invited to be someone’s guest for a wedding yesterday evening, and he suggested that I pick a castle (or something) for us to visit during the day. I opted for Huntingtower Castle near Perth, as I was very interested to see the painted ceiling, and Perth seemed like a convenient place to meet up.

Huntingtower Castle was built in the 15th and 16th centuries and is comprised of two main towers with a small connecting structure in between. Legend has it that the connection was built after a young woman fell to her death leaping from one tower to the next – all because of an illicit affair she was having. It is said that her ghost (Lady Greensleeves) now haunts the castle. (Another version has her safely making the leap before eloping with her lover the following morning.)

[Note: I didn’t see any ghosts. But I did have an oddly blurry photo that I can’t quite recall taking. It was likely snapped when I was putting my camera in my pocket … but maybe it was a message from Lady Greensleeves? Who knows!]

The eastern tower boasts some lovely 16th-century paintings on the first floor ceilings (that’s the second floor to Americans). Much of the painting on the wooden ceiling survives, with some smaller fragments of artwork surviving on the plaster ceilings and walls around the small windows. And then in the western tower, just before you exit via an external staircase, there are some fragments of surviving paint on the wall around the door.

The castle is quite a bit smaller than Dirleton Castle, which I saw two weeks ago, and didn’t have nearly as many lavatories. But there were so many interesting nooks and crannies that it made the trip just as enjoyable. There were even a few wee doocots built into the roofline!

Oh! And my friend is very silly (a bit like me) so we had a bit of fun taking panoramic photos where I show up two (or more) times in the same picture. I’ve shared one below along with some other fun snaps from the day.

(And I’m sorry for not blogging much lately. Life’s been busy. But mostly fun busy, so that’s good!)