Customer Reviews

Castles of Scotland: A Comprehensive Reference and Gazetteer to 1700 Castles

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This book is an excellent guide to Scottish castles and certainly the most comprehensive book I have seen on this subject. It goes into great detail about 2500 sites of castles and fortified houses going back down the centuries. It gives lots of information about each site including a description , location , history of ownership and opening times . Most castles in Scotland are either owned by Historic Scotland , the National Trust or private individuals. There is probably a lot more in this book than you could ever imagine about Scottish castles. I have some pictures of 20 Scottish castles on my website http://www.castlepictures.com but the scope of this book is way beyond that .

Want to find the ancient ruins of your family's Scottish history? Then arm yourself with a copy of this book by Martin Coventry and a map from the local Ordinance Surveys and you are on your way to discovering real history that you can see, hear, feel, touch...Martin is constantly updating his information; receptive to additions and changes from all sources to his unique work. A real treasure of information; I would not be without one as I recently wrote a first of three books on the medieval Douglas Clan. A fine research tool for the professional or amateur castle "buff."

This is the finest and most accurate book on Castles in Scotland you will find. Complete with photographs and illustrations, Martin Coventry gives the reader an accurate historical-to-present story, complete with over 290 pages of locations and contacts, of almost every Castle in Scotland. Mr Coventry is considered by many as Scotlands foremost authority on anything to do with Castles in Scotland. As the producer and paranormal investigator for the Adventures Beyond series, I had the opportunity to meet and interview Mr. Coventry in person. It was partly due to his recommendation that we decided on investigating what is reported to be the most Haunted and evil castle in all of Europe, Hermitage Castle. Mr. Coventry prides himself on being as accurate as possible and has done immense research on every Castle he lists in his books. This book is an excellent informational tool as well as an indepth guide book.

Anyone interested in Castles in Europe or planning a visit to Scotland needs to get a copy of this book. Mr. Coventry also puts out a smaller handbook of Haunted Castles and locations called, 'A WEE GUIDE to The Haunted Castles of Scotland', which deals specifically with those castles reported as being Haunted. This book is a must for those interested in the medieval fortresses which are rich in history and shrouded in legend and mystery. This book provided Adventures Beyond with accurate hard to find historical and factual background information on both of the Castles we investigated in our documentaries, Threave Castle, in Castle Douglas and Hermitage Castle in the South of Scotland. Well worth it at twice the price.

I really use this book when I am studying the travel map to see what Castles to go to. I enjoy the brief history on each and when they are open for tours. That is very helpful.

I bought this book as a gift for a friend who loves knight folkore.
He loves this book. He has a very big book collection and he tells me nothing he has compares to this book.
In fact, he also told me that he has had a picture of a castle on his wall for the last six years he was unable to find the name for, he flipped open this book the first day he got it and found the castle and all of it's information. Mystery solved.
He tells me he keeps this book on his coffee table and reads it about 3 times a week.
I am very pleased that he likes this book.

This is a great little book to take as a companion book to your Scotland guidebook. Good information on castles . . just enough to be interesting.

Although ordered in plenty of time to get here before Christmas, it is well over a week after Christmas and still no show! Not happy with that.