Glamis Castle

Glamis Castle – the childhood home of HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother – has captured the imagination of successive generations of visitors by virtue of its architectural splendour and royal associations. This book presents a detailed account of the buildings and gardens of Glamis Castle, principal seat of the family of the Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne since the 1370s. Combining the results of site investigation and the examination of material from the family archives, the author presents a comprehensive picture of the castle's development from its origins in the fourteenth century to the present day.

Weaving the strands of family history into the castle's architectural development, the author traces its various incarnations: from medieval castle to royal palace in the sixteenth century, from a great house in the Scottish Baronial style at the beginning of the seventeenth century to a baroque palace at the end, and finally to an enormous late Victorian country house of 'little comfort and less convenience'. Glamis has also featured in many historical and literary works, from Shakespeare's Macbeth to Sir Walter Scott's novels, and the author completes his study of the castle by surveying the myths and legends that have grown up around it.

Harry Gordon Slade FSA is a model antiquary and takes justifiable pride in his military service in the London Scottish Regiment (Gordon Highlanders) and being awarded the Territorial Decoration. He is unique in being the only practising architect to have been appointed as an Inspector of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings by the Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings. It is his breadth of practical experience as an architect, combined with his depth of knowledge, that makes his studies all the more informed and enjoyable. He has published books and articles on historic buildings in south-west England but his real love is the buildings of north-east Scotland, as shown by his publications in the journals of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and in Scottish Vernacular Architecture.

• Reports of the Research Committee of the Society of Antiquaries of London, No. 63
• ISBN 0 85431 277 3
• 260mm x 200mm 136pp 49 black and white photographs 17 line drawings (including 5 in pocket) colour frontispiece
• £29.95 hardback Published August 2000
• Available from Oxbow Books

Jacket illustration: reconstruction of Glamis Castle and its policies by Terry Ball FSA; © Terry Ball and Strathmore Estates)