Wemyss Castle is situated on the cliffs between the villages of East Wemyss

East Wemyss

East Wemyss is a village situated on the south coast of the Kingdom of Fife, Scotland. In the United Kingdom Census 2001 the population was recorded as 1841.- History :...

 and West Wemyss

West Wemyss

West Wemyss is a village lying on the north shore of the Firth of Forth, in Fife, Scotland. According to the 2007 population estimate, the village has a population of 237. The village was granted burgh of barony status in 1511, bearing the name from the Wemyss family who lived in Wemyss Castle...

 in Fife

Fife

Fife is a council area and former county of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries to Perth and Kinross and Clackmannanshire...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

History

Accounts date the construction of the castle to the year 1421 when Sir John Wemyss decided to build a fortified castle to replace one destroyed by the Duke of Rothesay at Kilconquhar in 1402. The castle is thus the ancient seat of the Earls of Wemyss and their families. Historically, the castle is perhaps best known as the location where Mary, Queen of Scots, met her future husband Lord Darnley

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley

Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...

 in 1565.

Architecture

Wemyss is an imposing castle sitting high atop cliffs with a view out over the Firth of Forth

Firth of Forth

The Firth of Forth is the estuary or firth of Scotland's River Forth, where it flows into the North Sea, between Fife to the north, and West Lothian, the City of Edinburgh and East Lothian to the south...

. Two particular points of interest are that one of the towers from an earlier building has been re-used, first as a windmill and later as a dovecote

Dovecote

A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...

. There is also an oval-shaped dungeon within the castle, connected to the building by a 30m zigzag passage. Wemyss castle was restored in the 1950s and remains a residence to this day. Indeed, members of today's Royal Family, including the Queen, have visited.

Ghosts

Some believe Wemyss possesses, like a number of Scottish Castles, a "Green Lady". Green, in Scotland at any rate, has always been an unlucky colour, associated with death and misfortune. Particularly unfortunate is the girl who wears green on her wedding day. In the case of Wemyss, the ghost is that of a young woman wearing a trailing dress of green silk which rustles as she floats along the corridors within the castle. It is reported that her ghost has not in fact been seen for some years now, but no explanation for this is recorded.

External links

• http://www.wemysscastlegardens.com
• http://www.w-v-m.com/wvm/Display/page/About_Us.html