Newark Castle, St Monans, United Kingdom

Newark Castle is a ruin located just west of St Monans, on the east coast of Fife. The building stands in a dramatic location, overlooking the North Sea. The upper storeys are ruinous, but vaulted cellars survive, hidden from view.

Building on the site probably dates back to the 13th century, at which time the Scottish king Alexander III (1241–1286) spent some of his childhood there.

The current building was begun in the 15th century by the Kinloch family. It then passed, through marriage, to the Sandilands of Cruivie, who sold it in 1649 David Leslie. Leslie was a prominent figure in the English and Scottish Civil Wars, becoming Lord Newark after the wars. Following Leslie's death in 1682, the castle passed to the Anstruther family, and finally to the Bairds of Elie.

The castle attracted the attention of Sir William Burrell, the Glasgow shipping magnate and collector of art and antiques, in the late 19th century when Sir Robert Lorimer produced a plan for its restoration. The scheme never went ahead as the owner of the site, a Mr Baird of Elie, refused to sell.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Shona Norman (5 months ago)
There are only ruins, which are fenced off, but you can see that this would have been a substantial castle with amazing views over the Firth of Forth. Off to the left of the castle is what I think might be a round Doocot. I love castles no matter what state they are in, so Newark Castle was lovely to see.

Paul Vine (5 months ago)
It's a nice enough ruin. In a bad state these days, you only have to look at the coastal erosion to see why. There is fencing around it to keep you away from venturing inside it but that fencing has also seen better days.

Richard Payne (8 months ago)
A great old ruin, sadly not in a great state on the coastal path. It was fenced off when we were there, but clearly been breached many times as there were gaps in the fencing and a lot of rubbish inside the site - a big shame. Lovely setting. Well worth a stop on the coastal walk.

Katarzyna Mikołajek (8 months ago)
It beautiful place with mystery atmosphere

Austin Yoder (9 months ago)
we could basically go anywhere we wanted on the castle, great town lovely view.

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The first historical record of Lednice locality dates from 1222. At that time there stood a Gothic fort with courtyard, which was lent by Czech King Václav I to Austrian nobleman Sigfried Sirotek in 1249.

At the end of the 13th century the Liechtensteins, originally from Styria, became holders of all of Lednice and of nearby Mikulov. They gradually acquired land on both sides of the Moravian-Austrian border. Members of the family most often found fame in military service, during the Renaissance they expanded their estates through economic activity. From the middle of the 15th century members of the family occupied the highest offices in the land. However, the family’s position in Moravia really changed under the brothers Karel, Maximilian, and Gundakar of Liechtenstein. Through marriage Karel and Maximilian acquired the great wealth of the old Moravian dynasty of the Černohorskýs of Boskovice. At that time the brothers, like their father and grandfather, were Lutheran, but they soon converted to Catholicism, thus preparing the ground for their rise in politics. Particularly Karel, who served at the court of Emperor Rudolf II, became hetman of Moravia in 1608, and was later raised to princely status by King Matyas II and awarded the Duchy of Opava.

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The chateau as it looks today dates from 1846-1858, when Prince Alois II decided that Vienna was not suitable for entertaining in the summer, and had Lednice rebuilt into a summer palace in the spirit of English Gothic. The hall on the ground floor would serve to entertain the European aristocracy at sumptuous banquets, and was furnished with carved wood ceilings, wooden panelling, and select furniture, surpassing anything of its kind in Europe.

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