Red Castle of Lunan is a ruined fortified house

Tower house

A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation.-History:Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountain or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strategic points with reduced forces...

 on the coast of Angus

Angus

Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

. It is about 4 miles (6.4 km) south-southwest of Montrose

Montrose, Angus

Montrose is a coastal resort town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. It is situated 38 miles north of Dundee between the mouths of the North and South Esk rivers...

.

History

The earliest structure on the site was built for King William the Lion

William I of Scotland

William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...

 in the late twelfth century to repel Viking

Viking

The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...

 invasions to Lunan Bay. Evidence shows, however, that William took up residence there on several occasions whilst on hunting

Hunting

Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...

 expeditions. In 1194, William conferred the castle, and land surrounding the village of Inverkeilor

Inverkeilor

Inverkeilor is a village and parish in Angus, Scotland. It lies near the North Sea coast, midway between Arbroath and Montrose. The A92 road now bypasses the village....

, 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the castle, to Walter de Berkely, the Royal Chamberlain. In 1328, Robert the Bruce

Robert I of Scotland

Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...

 gave the castle to the Earl of Ross

Aodh, Earl of Ross

Hugh [probably Gaelic: Aodh], was the third successor of Ferchar mac in tSagairt as Mormaer of Ross .Hugh was a favorite of King Robert I of Scotland, who endowed him with many lands. Aodh even married Robert's sister, Maud...

. The castle is referred to as rubeum castrum (Latin for Red Castle) in deeds of 1286, referring to its burnished red sandstone

Sandstone

Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...

, typical of this area.

In 1579, James, son of Lord Gray

Lord Gray

Lord Gray is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1445 for the Scottish diplomat and politician Sir Andrew Gray. His great-great-great-great-great-grandson, the seventh Lord, was granted a new patent with remainder to William Gray, husband of his only daughter Anne, and his heirs...

, married Lady Elizabeth Beaton, who owned the castle, and fell in love with her daughter. After Lady Beaton threw him out, Gray (with his brother Andrew of Dunninald) laid siege to the castle for two years, ultimately burning the inhabitants out. From then on the castle slipped into decline, and, although it remained partially roofed until 1770, it was never again a residence of nobility. Its last inhabitant was the minister of Inverkeilor, one James Rait.

Description

Red Castle stands on high ground overlooking Lunan Bay, on the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

 coast. Immediately to the north of Red Castle is the mouth of the Lunan Water

Lunan Water

The Lunan Water is an easterly flowing river in Angus, Scotland, that discharges to the North Sea north of the town of Arbroath. Draining chiefly agricultural lands, this stream has a moderate level of turbidity and a pH level of approximately 8.7. Other nearby watercourses discharging to the...

, with the hamlet of Lunan

Lunan

Lunan is a hamlet in Angus, Scotland, in the parish of the same name, south of Montrose. The hamlet overlooks Lunan Bay at the mouth of the Lunan Water. A 16th-century priest of Lunan church, Walter Mill, was one of the last Scottish Protestant martyrs to be burned at St. Andrews. The church...

 beyond. Only a part of the fifteenth century rectangular tower, and the 2 metres (6.6 ft) thick east curtain wall

Curtain wall (fortification)

A curtain wall is a defensive wall between two bastions of a castle or fortress.In earlier designs of castle the curtain walls were often built to a considerable height and were fronted by a ditch or moat to make assault difficult....

 remain. The tower in particular is in precipitous condition, being perched on the edge of the hill above Lunan Bay, and was described as being "in imminent danger of collapse" in 1999. The castle is clearly visible from the A92 road

A92 road

The A92 is a major road in Fife and Angus, Scotland. It runs from Dunfermline to Stonehaven.Starting at its junction with the M90 motorway near Dunfermline, it runs north east past Cowdenbeath, Lochgelly, Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Ladybank and Newport-on-Tay...

. The remains are those of the 15th-century keep

Keep

A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word keep, but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residences, used as a refuge of last resort should the rest of the...

, and the surrounding wall, or enceinte

Enceinte

Enceinte , is a French term used technically in fortification for the inner ring of fortifications surrounding a town or a concentric castle....

, which may date from the 13th century. A midden

Midden

A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...

 below the castle is continually eroding, yielding a number of artefacts now in the Montrose Museum

Montrose Museum

Montrose Museum opened in 1842 in Montrose, Angus, Scotland. The museum came into being when in 1841 the Montrose Natural History and Antiquarian Society started a fund to expand its space; in order to house its curiosities and wonders ranging from geological and ethnographical artefacts to a...

. The tower and enceinte are both protected as category A listed buildings.