Heritage Tourism: Urquhart Castle

Urquhart Castle is one of over 100 Castles located in Scotland. Specifically, it is located in the Highlands near Drumnadrochit Village overlooking Loch Ness. During the wars for independence, it frequently changed hands between the Scottish and the English. Unfortunately, it was finally destroyed  during the Jacobite Risings to prevent anyone else occupying it. The Castle is now owned by Historic Scotland and is frequently sited and one of the best attractions in Scotland.

On a trip to Loch Ness, I had the opportunity to visit Urquhart Castle. Being born in a country steep with underutilized and mostly abandoned historical sites, it was an amazing opportunity to appreciate how such an important piece of Scottish history had been preserved and to share her story as a tourist attraction. From the visitors center, which surprisingly was only built in 2002, one can consume a full panoramic of the castle. Apart from the grandeur of Castle, the center has a few notable attractions of its own, including:

• A gift shop for purchasing souvenirs

• A theater which plays an informational movie about the history of the castle.
• A room with artefacts that visitors can interact with.
• An interactive model of what the Castle would have looked like in its prime.
• A cafe with a beautiful view of Urquhart Castle and Loch Ness. The cafe often doubles as a venue for wedding receptions.

On the grounds there is a large catapult which surely is a big attraction for picture taking and sharing on social media. There is also a small pier for where visitors would get the boat to take them for a ride across Loch Ness.

What I found most fascinating was that (apart from the replacement of the drawbridge with a gangway and the installation of some steps to allow visitors to climb to the highest points of the ruins) the site has remained virtually untouched. I loved the authenticity of the site but it got me thinking about castle restoration. If a castle, not just Urquhart, but any are restored, how far should the restoration effort go in order to not reduce the authenticity of the site. The ruins tell as much of story as a fully restored site.  A quick scroll through Historic Scotland’s Twitter feed however, shows that apart from general maintenance, castle restoration is not frequently on its agenda. In fact Warner (2013) reported that Historic Scotland had prevented the restoration of Castles Duntarvie, Rowallan and Tioram and only rescinded its position on the latter because it became necessary. He argues for restoration by positing that “if a castle had remained occupied throughout its history successive owners would have carried out many alterations.”

Warner is probably not alone in his thinking. It is plausible that if not for the sake of developing Scottish history, eventually even a partial restoration might be done in the name of Heritage Tourism.

References

List of Castles in Scotland Available at: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/CastlesinScotland/ (Accessed: 18 October 2017)

Urquhart Castle (2011) Available at: http://www.urquhart-castle.co.uk/urquhart-castle/ (Accessed: 18 October 2017)

Warner, G. (2013) Why Historic Scotland is falling down on castle restoration Available at: http://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/why-historic-scotland-is-falling-down-on-castle-restoration-1-3242050 (Accessed: 18 October 2017)

All picture credit: Leanne Y. Knight