Early history A castle may have been built on Castle Island as early as 1257, when King
Alexander III of Scotland, then 16 years old, was forcibly brought there by his
regents. During the
First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1328), the invading English army held the castle, then named Lochleven Castle; it lies at a strategically important position between the towns of
Edinburgh,
Stirling and
Perth. Part of the present fortification, the
curtain wall, may date from this time period English forces laid siege to Lochleven in 1301, but the garrison was relieved in the same year when the siege was broken by Sir
John Comyn. Loch Leven Castle was fortified in the 14th or early-15th century by the addition of a five-storey
tower house or
keep. In 1390, King
Robert II (reigned 1371–1390) granted the castle to Sir Henry Douglas, the husband of his niece Marjory. Beginning in the 14th century, the castle served as a state prison. Several notable men were imprisoned there, including Robert II in 1369 (before he became king), In April 1563, she had an interview there with the Calvinist preacher
John Knox. In June 1565, Mary stayed at Perth, at
Ruthven Castle, and
Innerpeffray Castle. It was said the
Earl of Moray and the
Earl of Argyll plotted to capture her and
Lord Darnley as they returned to Edinburgh riding by Loch Leven. Mary would have been imprisoned in Lochleven Castle and Darnley taken to
Castle Campbell to prevent
their marriage. The alleged attempt to kidnap the couple and imprison them was known the "Raid of
Beath". In September 1565, Mary visited Loch Leven again as the guest of
William Douglas of Lochleven (d. 1606). Two years later, Mary returned to Lochleven as a prisoner. She was held there from 17 June 1567 until her escape on 2 May 1568. She had been imprisoned there after the
Battle of Carberry Hill on 15 June, when she surrendered to her noblemen, who opposed her marriage to the
Earl of Bothwell. She was taken to Lochleven and given into the custody of William Douglas of Lochleven. For most of her captivity she lived in Glassin Tower (built in the early 16th century), at the south-east corner of the castle. Some of William Douglas's daughters slept in her bedchamber for extra security. Mary fell ill on her arrival, which was suspected to be the result of a deliberate poisoning, and sometime before 24 July she
miscarried twins that she had conceived with Bothwell; they were hastily buried in the grounds. She was probably nursed back to health by
Agnes Leslie. Only a few days later she was forced to
abdicate as Queen of Scots in favour of her infant son
James. The household included Sir William Douglas's mother Lady
Margaret Douglas (mother of Mary's half-brother the
Earl of Moray), his brother
George Douglas, and Willie Douglas (a young orphaned relative). There were five or six ladies, four or five gentlewomen, and two
chamberers, one Scottish and one French. Mary asked for an apothecary, a valet for her chamber, and an embroiderer who could draw patterns for her needlework. Mary wrote that her household at Lochleven was reduced to just two serving women, a cook, and a surgeon or doctor, when her keepers were persuading her to resign the throne. She signed the demission on 24 July 1567.
William Maitland of Lethington and
Mary Fleming sent her a
gold jewel depicting the
lion and mouse of
Aesop's fable. This was a token alluding to the possibility of escape, and his continuing support for her, the mouse could free the lion by nibbling away the knots of the net. Mary wore the jewel at the castle and
Marie Courcelles, one of her women and sometimes described as her French
chamberer, provided a description. For a time, Mary was moved into the main tower, considered easier to guard at night than her first lodging. Mary recovered during the autumn and winter of 1567, and gradually won George Douglas over to her own cause. A contemporary wrote that George was "in fantasy of love wythe hir." Mary asked her servant
Servais de Condé to send her materials for textile projects and embroidery. She also made multiple attempts to escape. Once, she pretended to be the laundress, Margaret Aitkin, while one of her ladies took her place inside the castle. However, as she was leaving, the boatman who was taking her across the loch recognized her, and took her back to the castle. Another time, she planned to escape by scaling the wall outside the castle, but one of her ladies-in-waiting,
Jane Kennedy, injured herself while they were practising the escape. On the night she finally successfully escaped, she dressed as a servant, Willie Douglas stole the keys, and
Marie Courcelles let her walk out of the castle. She was then rowed across the loch to where George Douglas was waiting for her, along with 200 horsemen, and they fled to
Niddry Castle in Lothian. Three days after, her French cook Estienne Hauet and his wife Elles Boug packed her
silk and velvet gowns and other items in a chest to send to Mary wherever she might be. Old keys found when the level of the loch was lowered in the 19th-century are said to be those taken by Willie Douglas. The castle is one of many in Scotland said to be haunted by Mary's spirit because she is waiting for her twins to return to her so they would know their loss of life was not her fault; the sadness she felt about their loss kept her trapped within the castle walls after her death.
Janet Boyman,
Marion Nicnevin, and
William Stewart of Luthrie were subsequently accused of witchcraft and charged with making predictions about Mary's escape. The English
Earl of Northumberland was also held here, after offending
Elizabeth I of England. He was confined at Loch Leven for two years before being sent back to England to be executed.
Regent Morton retired to the castle in 1578 and spent his time "making the alleys of the garden even". James VI made plans to visit Lochleven on 7 July 1580 as part of his first progress in Scotland. In 1588, when Sir William Douglas of Lochleven succeeded to the
earldom of Morton as the 6th earl, The "Newhouse" replaced the island castle as the legal centre of the estate in 1619. On 12 May 1589, William Douglas, now 6th
Earl of Morton, entertained the
Danish Admiral Peder Munk at the Newhouse. He had been to
Falkland Palace taking
possession of the property as part of the king's "
morning gift" to his bride
Anne of Denmark. In 1675, the Loch Leven estate was bought from the Douglases by
Sir William Bruce (c.1630–1710), royal architect in Scotland. Bruce built nearby
Kinross House on the loch shore from 1686, aligning the principal axis of house and garden on the distant castle. The "Newhouse", which was finally demolished in 1723, was just to the north of Bruce's site. Kinross was one of the first buildings in the
classical style erected in
Scotland. Thereafter Lochleven Castle was no longer used as a dwelling, but it was preserved by Bruce as a picturesque focus for his gardens. but the ruins were conserved and rubbish removed in 1840. The estate passed from the Bruces to the Graham family in the 18th century and then, in the 19th century, to the Montgomerys, who no longer occupy Kinross House. Lochleven Castle was given in to state care in 1939, and is now managed by
Historic Environment Scotland. The remains of the castle are protected as a
Scheduled Ancient Monument. ==Description==