Scalloway Castle

Scalloway Castle stands roofless at the edge of the old Shetland capital, a tall tower-house raised for Patrick Stewart, 2nd Earl of Orkney. Building began around 1600 and the work was largely finished by about 1607, carried out by labourers summoned without pay from the Shetland parishes under a master of works named Andrew Crawford. The castle followed an L-shaped plan: a main tower measuring roughly 18 by 10 metres, joined by a smaller wing to the south-west, rising four storeys with a garret above. At ground level a tunnel-vaulted floor held the kitchens, stores and a well, while the upper rooms served as the earl’s residence and as a meeting place for the thing, Shetland’s old assembly, during his rule. Earl Patrick governed harshly, and in 1609 the islands’ lairds carried complaints of his misrule to the king. In 1612 James Law, Bishop of Orkney, held his first court here, and in 1615 Patrick Stewart was executed. The ruin passed into state care in 1908 and is today looked after by Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument, its weathered walls still commanding the shore at Scalloway.