Castle or Palace?

One question visitors to Scotland often ask me is "What's the difference between a castle and a palace?". It seems at first like this would be an easy one to answer,with a distinction along the lines of - a castle is a strong, well-fortified, defensible structure that can withstand attack, whereas a palace is a grand luxury residence, designed principally to impress. But thinking about it, I can see where the confusion comes from.

Holyrood Palace

One reason is that it is assumed that a palace must be the residence of a king or queen. And of course it must be very grand. And indeed we do have Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, the Queen's official residence in Scotland, which fits the bill admirably.

Scone Palace

But we also have Scone Palace, the home of the Earl of Mansfield, which is effectively a large mansion house, and is only called a palace because a previous building on this site, demolished long ago, was once the residence of the Abbot of Scone Abbey, which was closed down at the Reformation in the year 1560! It has been suggested that the reason for naming the Abbot's house a Palace may have been because it would have provided temporary accommodation for the early Kings of Scotland during their coronation ceremonies, which were held at Scone Abbey.


Another reason is that around Scotland there are a number of very grand houses which are called castles, but give the appearance of a palace, such as Inveraray Castle or Dunrobin Castle.

In the case of Inveraray Castle, the Duke of Argyll built a palatial new mansion house next to his old castle, and then demolished the old castle but transferred the name to his new house.

Inveraray Castle

Sign marking the location of
the Old Inveraray Castle

Dunrobin Castle

In Dunrobin's case, the original castle structure still exists, but successive extensions and remodelling have entombed the fabric of the original building within the later additions. The same process has happened at Blair Castle, which at least still looks like a castle, thanks to the alterations made by David Bryce back in the 19th century.

Then we have another phenomenon - the castle hotel. A case in point is Inverlochy Castle Hotel, near Fort William, a grand mansion house which happens to be in the vicinity of the ruinous Old Inverlochy Castle. Or the Melville Castle Hotel, just to the south of Edinburgh, which again was built as a grand mansion house on land where a castle once stood.

If visitors really want to stay in a genuine castle, they would be advised to check carefully before booking. Such places do still exist, such as Dalhousie Castle, south of Edinburgh, or Castle Stuart, near Inverness.