Spynie Palace
Spynie Palace | |
---|---|
Spynie, near Elgin, Moray, Scotland | |
Coordinates | 57°40′34″N 03°17′29″W / 57.67611°N 3.29139°W |
Type | Keep with curtain wall |
Height | 22 metres |
Site information | |
Owner | Historic Environment Scotland |
Open to the public | Yes |
Condition | Ruin |
Site history | |
Built | 1st c1150 2nd c1250 |
Built by | Bishop of Moray |
In use | c1150 – 1689 |
Materials | Sandstone |
Events | besieged 1640 and 1645 |
Spynie Palace, also known as Spynie Castle, was the fortified seat of the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years in Spynie, Moray, Scotland. The founding of the palace dates back to the late 12th century. It is situated about 500 m from the location of the first officially settled Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Moray, Holy Trinity Church in present-day Spynie Churchyard. For most of its occupied history, the castle was not described as a palace — this term first appeared in the Registry of Moray in a writ of 1524.[1]
Background
The beginnings of the Bishopric of Moray are unclear. The first mention of a bishop was Gregoir whose name appeared on several royal charters in the 1120s. The early bishops of
The fortified residence
12th and 13th centuries
The first castle was a wooden structure built in the late 12th century and was revealed in excavations carried out between 1986 and 1994.[7] The excavated evidence suggests that the buildings were surrounded by a rectangular ring work and ditch which seem to have enclosed an area of roughly the same as the 14th-century curtain wall, i.e., an enclosure of 45 – 65 m and is large even by medieval ring works found elsewhere in Britain. The buildings would likely have consisted of the bishop's house with a hall, a bed chamber and a chapel and also holding a brewhouse and a bakehouse.[6]
The stone buildings first appeared in the 13th century with the establishment of what was thought to have been a chapel and which had coloured glass windows.[8]
The first recorded mention of the castle is in a document held in the British Museum. This manuscript dates from the early 14th century but appears to have been compiled between 1292 and 1296 and was apparently for the use of English administrators during King Edward I of England's occupation of Scotland.[9][10] The first writ issued at Spynie Castle was in 1343 and is recorded in the Register of Moray[11]
14th and early 15th centuries
The remaining wooden buildings were gradually replaced with stone, and this continued through into the 14th century when the first main castle building was erected. This was a near-square structure built within a 7-metre-high curtain wall. The main entrance in the wall faced to the south and a tower that projected from the south-east corner had narrow openings for archers.
In this period Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, otherwise known as the Wolf of Badenoch, attacked and burned Elgin Cathedral in June 1390. It also appears that he took Spynie Castle as King Robert III (Buchan's brother) issued an instruction to Buchan in August 1390 forbidding him to 'intromit' the Castle of Spynie for any reason.[12] Following Bishop Alexander Bur's death in 1397, the King, in conformity with feudal established practice during the period of the vacant seat, took possession of the castle and perversely appointed the now reformed Wolf of Badenoch to be warden of the castle.[12] After the election of the new bishop, the King issued a writ on 3 May 1398 to Buchan to hand over the castle and contents to Bishop William without claiming expenses.[12]
Later 15th and 16th centuries
It is thought that Bishop John de Winchester (1435–60) was responsible for moving the main gate to the east wall which contained a strong portcullis.[13] The architectural detail of the upper section of the gate remains and shows the gatekeeper's room complete with a small fireplace. John, as well as being the Bishop of Moray, was also the king's Master of Works and had been responsible for alterations to the castles at Inverness and Urquhart as well as the palace at Linlithgow.[14] The fine stonework and styling of the gate may have been carried out by the master masons working on the restoration work at Elgin Cathedral following its destruction in 1390.[15]
The most significant buildings were established in the later 15th century through into the 16th century when David's Tower (also known as Davey's Tower) was built along with other substantial accommodation areas. The tower is the largest by volume of all medieval Scottish towers measuring 19 m by 13.5 m and 22 m in height and was started by Bishop David Stewart (1462–76) and completed by Bishop William Tulloch (1477–82).[16] It has 6 storeys above ground and had a garret on the top. Below ground is a vaulted basement which is approximately 1.5 m below the level of the courtyard; it contains a circular dungeon, 5.3 m in diameter, lit only by a narrow loop looking to the west and has a slightly domed vaulted roof.[17] The ground floor contained the hall which is 12.8 m by 6.7 m and lit by large windows with built-in stone seats.[17] At the NE corner was a spiral staircase which led to the upper floors. Each of these floors was similar in design with a single large room and smaller chambers leading off it. The tower is plain and practically lacking in architectural features; the external walls were originally rendered while the internal walls were plastered.[18]
Stewart was also responsible for converting the old hall in the west range to kitchens to service the tower. It was said that the building of the tower was a reaction to intimidation from the Earl of Huntly whom Stewart had excommunicated for failing to pay his taxes.
English prisoners were held at Spynie during the war known as the
As part of the pacification following the abdication of Queen Mary, Regent Morton, in a meeting of the Privy Council at Perth on 23 February 1573, ordered that the castle be made available to the Crown, if needed:
the hous of Spyne salbe randerit and deliverit to oure Soverane Lord and his Regent foirsaid quhen it salbe requirite on XV dayis warning, without prejudice of ony partiis rycht.[27]
On 29 July 1587,
17th century
In 1606, King James restored to the bishopric of Moray the endowments that remained.
Following the restoration of Episcopacy to the Scottish Church in 1662 ownership of the castle passed back to the church, but it was starting to fall into decay. Parliament granted Bishop Murdo MacKenzie £1000 for repairs and this sustained the building up to 1689
Major work to stabilise the structure was undertaken during the late 1970s using a large scaffold. Ultimately a curtain wall was reinstated disguising a large concrete plinth that prevents the tower from collapsing. The Palace was finally opened by Historic Scotland in 1994.[37]
Notes
- ^ Registrum Moraviense, p. 401
- ^ Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis, 40—43
- ^ Donaldson, G: The Foundation of Elgin Cathedral, in Maclean, A 1974 (ed): Elgin Cathedral and Diocese of Moray, Inverness, p. 2
- ^ Registrium Episcacopatus Moravienses no. 45
- ^ Fawcett, R: Elgin Cathedral, Edinburgh, 1991, p. 34
- ^ a b Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p. 2
- ^ Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p. 23
- ^ Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p.29
- ^ Skene, W F(Ed): Chronicles of the Picts and Scots, Edinburgh, pp. 214, 215
- ^ Simpson, W D: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, Elgin, 1927, pp 2, 3
- ^ Registrum Moraviense, p. 127
- ^ a b c Simpson, W: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, Elgin, 1927, p. 5
- ^ Simpson, W D: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, Elgin, 1927, pp 13 – 15
- ^ Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p.88
- ^ MacGibbon; Ross: Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1887, Vol. I, pp. 443–4
- ^ Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p. 51
- ^ a b Simpson, W D: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, Elgin, 1927, p. 8
- ^ Lewis, Pringle, Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray (Edinburgh, 2002).
- ^ Rhind, W., Sketches of the Past and Present State of Moray (1839).
- ^ William Fraser, The Chiefs of Grant, vol. 3, p. 124.
- Registrum Magni Sigilli, 1546—80, no. 1907.
- ^ Simpson, W D, The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie (Elgin, 1927), pp. 10, 11, 15.
- ^ HMC Longleat: Seymour Papers, IV (London, 1968), p. 109.
- ^ Joseph Stevenson (ed), Claude Nau's History of Mary Stuart, p. 27.
- ^ Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 1, p. 531.
- ^ Joseph Stevenson, Illustrations of the Reign of Queen Mary (Edinburgh, 1837), p. 217.
- ^ Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 2, p. 195.
- ^ Register of the Great Seal, 1580—93, no. 1727.
- ^ Miscellany of the Spalding Club, Vol. II, Introduction, p. xlviii
- ^ a b Buchanan, George: The History of Scotland, Vol III, 1856 p 551
- ^ Simpson, W: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, 1927
- ^ Spalding, J: Memorials of the Troubles in Scotland and England 1624 – 1645, Aberdeen, 1850-1, II, p. 447
- ^ Simpson, W: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, 1927 pp. 31,32
- ^ Simpson, W: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, 1927 pp. 32,33
- ^ Acts of the Parliament of Scotland, vol. VII, pp. 409,410
- ^ MacLean, A (ed): Elgin Cathedral and the Diocese of Moray, Inverness, 1974, pp. 8,9
- ^ Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002, p.10
Main references
- Buchanan, George: The History of Scotland, Vol III, 1856
- Donaldson, G: The Foundation of Elgin Cathedral, in Maclean, A 1974 (ed): Elgin Cathedral and Diocese of Moray, Inverness, p. 2
- Fawcett, R: Elgin Cathedral, Edinburgh, 1991
- Lewis, Pringle: Spynie Palace and the Bishops of Moray, Edinburgh, 2002
- MacGibbon; Ross: Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1887
- Simpson, W D: The Palace of the Bishops of Moray at Spynie, Elgin, 1927
External links
- Historic Environment Scotland. "Spynie Palace (SM90282)".
- Mysterious Britain & Ireland: Spynie Palace
- Mary, Queen of Scots website
Images: Bishop's Palace Ruins,[1],[2]
- Bishop's Church:[3]