Scotland

Lochore Castle is one of most important of the earliest Wardlaw places. Dating from the 1400's there is not much left of the castle now. It is located in the Ballingry (or Navitie) area just south of Loch Leven, north of Dunfermline. This is a drawing of when it was still intact and with the loch surrounding it. I added the watercolor to it.

 

 

This is a picture I took of the ruins of Lochore Castle on one of my trips to Scotland. It is fenced off now, but you can climb in and walk up to the inside of the ruins. I have lots of pictures I took all around it. Mr. Edward Henderson wrote a book about this whole area called "The History of Lochoreshire". About 1/3 of the book covers the Wardlaw part of its history. This book is out of print, but Mr. Henderson has given me permission to copy much of it in my book "Ancestral Earth". 

Door to Pitreavie Castle. Pitreavie is located in Dunfermline and was for the last years occupied by the Royal Air Force, but has since been vacated by them and has been sold into private hands.

Wardlaw Burial Vault at Dunfermline Abbey. Set between two buttresses, it originally was two vaults set between three buttresses. The space to the right was where the other vault was, but was taken out to open up the Norman doorway that was discovered there in 1905. There is now a plaque on the door telling how the Wardlaws were given the vault by the King and Queen.

See the next picture for a closeup showing the doors.

Door to Wardlaw Burial Vault on left. When the original section of the vault was taken out it revealed this wonderful Norman doorway that had been covered up all those years by the vault and was in perfect condition.

Balmule House. An important early Wardlaw place. Picture taken by me in 1994. The house has been added on to, but the main center section is original. We saw the lower floor where the kitchens were and the meat hangers still in the ceiling. The walls are about three feet thick.

There is a stone over the doors of the coach house at Balmule. "Arms of Henry Wardlaw of Balmule, afterwards First Baronet, impaled with those of his wife Elizabeth Wilson - 1605." This is the stone, and the inscription about it that is pictured in the book "The Wardlaws in Scotland" by John C. Gibson, facing page 133.

This is our Wardlaw Scotland 1997 Tour group in front of Navitie House, also a very early Wardlaw place, just south of Loch Leven. This picture appeared in the local newspaper telling about our visit. Navitie House is in the area of Lochoreshire where Lochore (Inchgall) Castle and Ladath House are.

Glasgow Cathedral where Cardinal Walter Wardlaw and his nephew Bishop Henry Wardlaw were in the 1300-1400's. Cardinal Walter Wardlaw's coat-of-arms is in the ceiling over the south aisle.

Rosyth Castle in the navy shipyards at Rosyth, Dunfermline. Here we are wandering around a castle from the 1200's that was early on connected with our Stewart connection and then the Wardlaws. A beautiful ruin! The dovecote is some distance away up a little hill. Picture of it in "Ancestral Earth".

Bust of Bishop Henry Wardlaw in the Visitors Center at St. Andrews Cathedral. Bishop Henry Wardlaw was the nephew of Cardinal Walter Wardlaw, and founded the University of St. Andrews in 1411. His grave can be seen in the middle of the ruins of the Cathedral.

Wardlaws of Riccarton and Warriston were in this area in the early 1300's. Left is an artist's rendition of the original tower. This probably is the structure where the Wardlaws lived. Right is Riccarton House after being added onto. This house has been demolished and is now the site of Heriot-Watt University. They have many records of the Wardlaws living here. The perimeter walls are still standing around the Riccarton area and along the road. The base of the sundial is still on the grounds. The book "The Wardlaws in Scotland" has alot of information about the Wardlaws of Riccarton and Warriston.

This Wardlaw stone is on the wall at Currie Kirk (church) where the Wardlaws were in the 1300's. The town of Currie is where Riccarton and Warriston are. This coat-of-arms is "Wardlaws of Riccarton" as seen in the book "The Wardlaws in Scotland" by John C. Gibson.

Abden House, also an early Wardlaw place in the 1600's, is in the village of Kinghorn on the Firth of Forth. This picture shows Abden House in the middle of picture, slightly left center, farthest back building. The house was demolished in the 1950's. The president of the Kinghorn Historical Society gave me pictures and an early map of this area showing Abden House and King's Gardens.

Left, looking out of a window of Caerlaverock Castle north to see Wardlaw Hill. It is the mound of trees you can see just to the left of the tallest tree.

Right, walking up Wardlaw Hill, site of a Roman Fort in 63 AD. See the first chapter of my book "Ancestral Earth".