Craigmillar Castle: free audio guide
The story of Craigmillar Castle in Edinburgh, as the Votura app tells it on location. Read it here, or hear it on the spot with turn-by-turn walking directions.
Before you go
- Address
- Craigmillar Castle Rd (Old Dalkeith Road), Midlothian, EH16 4SY
- Opening hours
- Mon–Sun: 10:00 AM–4:00 PM
The story
Craigmillar Castle stands on the eastern edge of Edinburgh, in Midlothian, as one of Scotland’s best-preserved medieval towers-and-enclosure castles. The core of the fortress is usually dated to around 1427, when Sir Simon Preston receives the lands of Craigmillar from King James I, and the castle grows from that grant into a major baronial residence. Its most distinctive feature is the great courtyard defended by a curtain wall, with a powerful tower house and later domestic ranges added to make it both a stronghold and a lived-in family home. Today, the ruins remain protected and open to visitors, with stonework that still makes the medieval layout easy to read.
The castle becomes closely tied to the Preston family, who hold it for generations and enlarge it into a residence worthy of political weight. In 1479, one of the castle’s most dramatic episodes takes place when Sir William Preston is accused of sheltering the king’s brother, Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, after Albany has fled Scotland; this puts Craigmillar into the orbit of royal intrigue. By the late 15th century the castle already has substantial defensive and residential character, and its surviving masonry shows how Scottish nobles combine comfort, status, and security in one complex. The mass of the walls and the compact planning reflect a period when a laird’s house can also function as a refuge in times of unrest.
Craigmillar’s most famous historical association comes in 1566, when Mary, Queen of Scots stays here while recovering after the birth of her son, the future James VI, and local lairds discuss a plan to remove her estranged husband, Lord Darnley. That same year the so-called “Craigmillar Bond” is linked to the castle, making the site part of one of the most notorious political conspiracies in Scottish history. For visitors, this is the room where the castle’s quiet stone chambers carry the weight of national drama, because the arguments over Darnley and the queen’s security unfold here rather than in a royal palace. The castle therefore matters not just as architecture, but as a stage on which the future of the Stuart dynasty is contested.
In the 16th century the castle is also upgraded for more comfortable living, with a fine tower house, gun loops, and domestic accommodation that show changing tastes and technologies. The famous doocot, a circular pigeon house built in the grounds, contains hundreds of nesting boxes and remains one of the largest and most striking survivals of its kind in Scotland, supplying meat and eggs to the household. The castle’s courtyard and surrounding enclosure give a strong sense of how a fortified laird’s seat works as a small estate centre, not merely a fighting tower. Even in ruin, the surviving structures reveal the practical intelligence of medieval and Renaissance domestic life.
After the Prestons’ era, Craigmillar gradually declines as noble residences shift elsewhere, and the castle is no longer maintained as a principal home. By the time the 18th century arrives, parts of the site are already ruinous, yet the main structures survive well enough to preserve the silhouette that has made Craigmillar so recognisable for centuries. Its position near Edinburgh means it remains part of the city’s historical landscape, while its ruined walls, vaulted chambers, and surviving stairways reward anyone who wants to trace Scotland’s aristocratic and political past in stone. It is a place where a 15th-century grant, a 1479 intrigue, and the decisive events of 1566 all remain readable in the fabric of the castle.
Written for the Votura audio tour and read aloud in the app. Opening hours change, so check with the venue before you go.
Self-guided tours that stop at Craigmillar Castle
- Edinburgh Castles & Scenic Walk: A 2-Day Historical Journey
- Edinburgh's Historic Highlights
- Edinburgh Castle and Cultural Tour
More audio tours in Edinburgh →
Hear it on the spot
Votura plays this guide when you reach Craigmillar Castle, then walks you to the next stop. Works offline.