As the debate about Scottish independence rages on, this book takes a timely look at how Scotland's politics have been expressed in its buildings, exploring how the architecture of Scotland – in particular the constantly-changing ideal of the 'castle' – has been of great consequence to the ongoing narrative of Scottish national identity. Scotch Baronial provides a politically-framed examination of Scotland's kaleidoscopic 'castle architecture', tracing how it was used to serve successive political agendas both prior to and during the three 'unionist centuries' from the early 17th century to the 20th century. The book encompasses many of the country's most important historic buildings – from the palaces left behind by the 'lost' monarchy, to revivalist castles and the proud town halls of the Victorian age – examining their architectural styles and tracing their wildly fluctuating political and national connotations. It ends by bringing the story into the 21st century, exploring how contemporary 'neo-modernist' architecture in today's Scotland, as exemplified in the Holyrood parliament, relates to concepts of national identity in architecture over the previous centuries.

Architecture.

At last - here is a single volume authoritative history of Scottish architecture. This compact yet comprehensive account combines factual description of the vast and fertile range of visual forms and key architects in each period with a wide-ranging analysis of their social, ideological and historical context. As Scotland has often been closely involved with new trends in western architecture, this book highlights the interaction of Scottish developments with broader European and international movements. From the beginnings of the Renaissance in the 15th century right up to the 1990s ,this much-needed survey covers the entire post-medieval story in one volume.

The story of how the country house, historically a site of violent disruption, came to symbolize English stability during the eighteenth century. Country houses are quintessentially English, not only architecturally but also in that they embody national values of continuity and insularity. The English country house, however, has more often been the site of violent disruption than continuous peace. So how is it that the country how came to represent an uncomplicated, nostalgic vision of English history? This book explores the evolution of the country house, beginning with the Reformation and Civil War, and shows how the political events of the eighteenth century, which culminated in the reaction against the French Revolution, led to country houses being recast as symbols of England’s political stability.

This architectural survey covers one of Scotland's most important periods of political and architectural change when mainstream European classicism became embedded as the cultural norm. Interposed between the decline of 'the Scottish castle' and its revival as Scotch Baronial architecture, the contributors consider both private and public/civic architecture. They showcase the architectural reflections of a Scotland finding its new elites by providing new research, analysing paradigms such as Holyrood and Hamilton Palace, as well as external reference points such as Paris tenements, Roman precedents and English parallels. Typologically, the book is broad in scope, covering the architecture and design of country estate and also the urban scene in the era before Edinburgh New Town. Steps decisively away from the 'Scottish castle' genre of architectureContextualises the work of Scotland's first well-documented grouping of major architects - including Sir William Bruce, Mr James Smith, James Gibbs and the Adam dynastyDocuments the architectural developments of a transformational period in Scottish history Beautifully illustrated throughout with 300 colour illustrations a

At a time when the Union between Scotland and England is once again under the spotlight, Remembering the Past in Nineteenth-Century Scotland examines the way in which Scotland's national heroes were once remembered as champions of both Scottish and British patriotism.Whereas current, popular orthodoxy claims that 19th-century Scotland was a mire of sentimental Jacobitism and kow-towing unionism, this book shows that Scotland's national heroes embodied a consistent, expressive and robust view of Scottish nationality. From the potent legacy of William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, through the controversial figure of the reformer, John Knox, to the largely neglected religious radicals, the Covenanters, these heroes once played a vital role in the formation of the virtues that made 19th-century Britain great. Examined through the prism of commemoration, this book uncovers a reading of Scotland's past entirely opposed to the now dominant narratives of medieval proto-nationalism and Calvinist misery.

Devastated by the civil wars of the 17th century or by the neglect of their owners, the majority of Scottish baronial castles built between 1250 and 1450 survive as little more than skeletal ruins. These reminders of Scotland's past have captured the imaginations of romantics, artists, writers and tourists since the late 18th century. Often set in spectacular surroundings, on cliff-tops, islands, and gorges, their ruined grandeur evokes a medieval world of sieges, banquets and murders, and provides a rare physical link with the Anglo-Scottish wars of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace.