Clackmannan Tower - Clackmannanshire, Scotland (HS)
Clackmannan was a residence of the Bruce family. The lands were granted to Robert de Bruce by King David II (Son of King Robert the Bruce) in 1365, and the last of that line died in 1772. The widow of the last laird, however, lived on for some time, and in 1787 is said to have knighted the poet Robert Burns in the castle with the sword of Robert the Bruce.
The main surviving part of the castle is the tower-house, though there are extensive traces of courtyards, buildings and gardens around it.
Tower-houses were frequently adapted to meet changing requirements. This is nowhere more clear than at Clackmannan, where an initially small tower was enlarged on two occasions, resulting in a building of great size. The earliest part is at the northern end of the building, which was probably built in the later fourteenth century as a rectangular tower of three main storeys. In the fifteenth century a much taller wing was added to its southern face, giving the building an L-shaped plan, and the same time the original building was heightened. The last major addition was in the earlier seventeenth century, when the hollow in the L-shaped plan was infilled by the addition of an imposing stair.