Wikipedia:WikiProject Scottish Castles

Welcome to WikiProject Scottish Castles on the English language Wikipedia! We are a group dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of Scotland's numerous castles.

Parent WikiProjects

 * WikiProject Military history/Fortifications task force
 * WikiProject Scotland

Scope
The focus of this WikiProject is relatively narrow: it aims to improve and expand Wikipedia's coverage of castles in Scotland, with the ultimate goal of giving a full and detailed description of every notable castle in Scotland, accompanied with (where possible):
 * Location map
 * Photographs (external and internal)
 * Floor plans
 * History
 * Description

The definition of 'castle' is a broad one, but the main focus of this project is on defensive structures of the 12th to 17th centuries, together with later "revival" castles.

Approach and progress
The initial focus was on the list of red links on the List of castles in Scotland page, although we now have well over 800 articles, and improvement of content is equally as important as expanding coverage. The Progress Page has a more comprehensive list of red links. Assessment of existing articles is now largely complete, and all articles are sorted into subcategories of Category:Scottish Castle articles by quality. Improvement of stub and start class articles is desirable, particularly the most commonly accessed articles. The 50 most-read articles are listed at WikiProject Scottish Castles/Popular pages. Please use WikiProject Scottish Castles/Announcements to log new articles, substantial improvements, article milestones, etc.

Article layout
No 'template' has been suggested as an ideal castle article. Please see Category:GA-Class Scottish Castle articles for examples of reviewed Good Articles. As yet the project has no Featured Articles.

The following typical article structure has been suggested as a guideline for any new Scottish castle articles:


 * Introductory paragraph, including location
 * History, divided into 'early' and 'later' or whatever suits
 * The Castle Today - i.e. description of the state of the place, features etc.
 * Gardens - if appropriate
 * Interior - if appropriate
 * Other information specific to any site - i.e. use in a film etc.

It should be noted that this is a guide only, as each castle is different and will require a slightly different approach.

Infobox
Infobox Military Structure should be used where the castle has a predominantly defensive history. For later castellated mansions, it may be more appropriate to use Infobox historic site instead. A location map should be included as part of the infobox. See the example on the right, for Edzell Castle.

Images
It has been agreed that castle articles should contain good images of both exteriors, interiors and details of the castles. Obviously these depend on actual visits, so an external link to a site with pictures is a good idea when no free images are available. Geograph is a good potential source of images.

Floor plans have been suggested as a possibility. If you have access to these, or the ability to draw them up, these would certainly be welcome, although not a necessity.

Participants

 * Mephiston999
 * Slink pink
 * Jonathan Oldenbuck
 * Mais oui! - don't know how much I can help, but I support your efforts
 * Cactus.man - adding myself, didn't realise this was up and running.
 * JohnPomeranz I'll do what I can. Thanks for the pointer SuperG.
 * Topbanana - Have done a dozen or two articles on castles in the past; colkour me interested but largely inactive.
 * Canaen - Extension of my efforts for Clan Fraser, and other clans. Beaufort Castle is my primary objective.
 * Isabella123-I love old castles, but don't know how much time I will have to help.
 * HJMG - interested, may be able to help
 * Wootking- I help when I can
 * Tumulus - I found this project whilst creating a new page for Duntulm Castle. I'll certainly try and help as I can.
 * Cloudy - I've been adding things to some castle pages, so I guess that means I can be on here!
 * User:LeeNapier - Adding what I can.
 * Horis - Willing to pitch in!
 * Franko2nd - Will help as much as i can
 * Anlace - Will help, particularly in the northeast. Am working on a couple of castle and historic building articles now in Aberdeenshire and Angus.
 * Billreid Just finished Duffus Castle where i created a temporary info box until we get a real one; working on Spynie Palace (really a castle!) which is currently a stub.
 * Brendandh - Strengths of the Borderland, (...and an eensy bit of the central belt and further north too!)
 * Lysy - Highlands. Photos.
 * Mrabbits - will help when I can.
 * Antisthenes - Jumped in at the deep end by trying to sort out Edinburgh Castle. I'll try to help where knowledge and time allow.
 * Kittybrewster. Special interest in Wedderburn Castle.
 * Gules 11:48, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Gfours - I am on a mission to visit all Scottish Castles, this will save me doing a separate blog for myself, and it's something I can share with everyone.
 * Bobbacon
 * Phouka - I have (quite literally) hundreds of photos of castles in Scotland; I'm unsure how to help out, but I'm willing to share them! Will do what I can.
 * --MacRusgail 17:33, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
 * Renata (talk) Still flogging away at the Scottish Borders stubs, but very interested in the built environment, incl. castles.
 * kilnburn - i do have interest and at this moment, i plan to start a Ravenscraig Castle article in the next couple of days
 * rethought - This is a brilliant project, will be happy to contribute. As I am in Aberdeen City, I'll likely work on articles about properties near home.
 * QuintusPetillius
 * Adam Black - I'll be focusing on castles close to where I live (Lanark) but I am interested in castles across the country. I have several books on the subject and regularly visit the local library to research local history in general but there are plenty of resources on the area's castle so I am sure I can be of use to this project.
 * Suzannehendersonemerson - Working on Fordell Castle.
 * ArchaicW - General interest in Scottish architecture/buildings
 * billbowery - Excited to help!
 * Sahaib3005 (talk) 20:22, 17 June 2021 (UTC) :)
 * Kj cheetham (talk) 12:45, 24 January 2023 (UTC)

Assessment
Assessment of the quality of Wikipedia's Scottish Castle articles is done as part of the WP:1.0 program, and the article ratings are also used within the project itself, to aid in recognising excellent contributions and identifying topics in need of further work.

The ratings are done through parameters in the WikiProject Scottish Castles project banner; this causes the articles to be placed in the appropriate sub-categories of Category:Scottish Castle articles by quality. Assessment of importance is currently not being carried out (see the talk page).

Articles that need to be assessed can be found in Category:Unassessed Scottish Castle articles.

See Version 1.0 Editorial Team/Scottish castle articles by quality for a full listing of project articles.

Good articles

 * Aberdour Castle
 * Craigmillar Castle
 * Dirleton Castle
 * Doune Castle
 * Dunnottar Castle
 * Dunrobin Castle


 * Dunstaffnage Castle
 * Edinburgh Castle
 * Edzell Castle
 * Inchdrewer Castle
 * Loch Leven Castle


 * Roslin Castle
 * Scottish castles
 * Sundrum Castle
 * Tantallon Castle
 * Tibbers Castle
 * Urquhart Castle

Featured Articles
None yet.

Template
The template WikiProject Scottish Castles should be placed on the talk page of articles to mark them as within the scope of the project:

Full instructions can be found on the template page.

Assessment team
If you want to take part in the assessment process, add your name below:


 * Mephiston999
 * Bobbacon
 * Bill Reid
 * Brendandh
 * Franko2nd

Resources
The following relevant works are available at The Internet Archive, and are currently out of copyright. They may be useful in providing background information, but up-to-date sources should ideally be consulted also.


 * Royal Palaces of Scotland - Helen Douglas-Irvine
 * The Ruined Castles of Mid-Lothian - John Dickson
 * The Castles and Keeps of Scotland - FR Fraprie
 * The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Vols 1-5, MacGibbon & Ross
 * The Story of Edinburgh Castle - Louis Weirter