Category guide
Historic sites in Scotland
Ruins, monuments and heritage sites with a story older than the country itself.
This covers the historic sites that aren't castles in the classic sense — abbeys, monuments, battle sites and heritage centres, several of them free to visit.
Interactive displays and family trails are increasingly common at the larger sites, but the smaller ones are mostly just the history itself, which some kids take to more readily than others.
Loading map...
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Loch Lomond And Trossachs
National Wallace Monument
Iconic tower commemorating William Wallace overlooking Stirling.
Loch Lomond And Trossachs
Stirling Old Town Jail
Interactive museum inside a historic jail with hands-on exhibits for children.
Highlands
Culloden Battlefield
Site of the 1746 battle with a visitor centre telling the story of the Jacobite rising.
Highlands
Fort George
Vast 18th-century artillery fortification on the Moray Firth, still an working army base with museum displays.
Highlands
Glenfinnan Monument and Viaduct
Monument marking the raising of the Jacobite standard, with views of the famous railway viaduct.
Moray And Speyside
Elgin Cathedral
Ruined medieval cathedral once known as the 'Lantern of the North'.
Angus And Dundee
Arbroath Abbey
Red sandstone abbey ruin where the Declaration of Arbroath was sealed in 1320.
Argyll And The Isles
Kilchurn Castle
Photogenic ruined castle on the shores of Loch Awe, reached by a short walk.
Scottish Borders
Melrose Abbey
Ruined abbey said to hold the buried heart of Robert the Bruce.
Scottish Borders
Jedburgh Abbey
One of the great Border abbeys, founded in the 12th century and still striking as a ruin.
Dumfries And Galloway
Sweetheart Abbey
Red sandstone abbey ruin in New Abbey, named for the heart of its founder's husband.
Orkney
Skara Brae
Remarkably preserved Neolithic village, older than Stonehenge and the pyramids.
Orkney
The Italian Chapel
Ornate chapel built by Italian prisoners of war from two Nissen huts and scrap metal.
Orkney
St Magnus Cathedral
Red sandstone cathedral at the heart of Kirkwall, free to explore.
Shetland
Jarlshof
Extraordinary site layering 4,000 years of settlement from Bronze Age to Viking times.
Outer Hebrides
Callanish Standing Stones
Neolithic stone circle on Lewis, older than Stonehenge and dramatically sited.
Outer Hebrides
Blackhouse Village, Arnol
Preserved thatched blackhouse showing traditional island life on Lewis.
Glasgow And Clyde Valley
Hamilton Mausoleum
Grand 19th-century mausoleum famous for having the longest echo of any man-made structure in Europe.
Glasgow And Clyde Valley
Strathaven Castle
Ruined 15th-century castle overlooking the Powmillon Burn in Strathaven.
Glasgow And Clyde Valley
Roman Bathhouse, Bothwellhaugh
Free-to-visit remains of a Roman bathhouse within Strathclyde Country Park.
Glasgow And Clyde Valley
Bothwell Bridge
Site of the 1679 Battle of Bothwell Bridge, marked on the bridge over the River Clyde.
Glasgow And Clyde Valley
Cadzow Castle
Ruined castle within Chatelherault Country Park, reached by a woodland walk past ancient oaks.
Ayrshire And Arran
Burns Cottage
The thatched cottage in Alloway where Robert Burns was born in 1759.
Ayrshire And Arran
Ballochmyle Viaduct
The highest railway viaduct in Britain, near Mauchline, with ancient carved rock art nearby.
Ayrshire And Arran
Greenan Castle
Ruined clifftop tower south of Ayr, dramatically sited above the sea.
Ayrshire And Arran
Seagate Castle
16th-century town-house ruin in the centre of Irvine.
Ayrshire And Arran
Dunure Castle
Ruined coastal castle above Dunure harbour, with rockpools below.
Ayrshire And Arran
Kilwinning Abbey
Ruined 12th-century abbey at the heart of Kilwinning, said to be the birthplace of Freemasonry in Scotland.
Ayrshire And Arran
Brig o' Doon
Medieval bridge over the River Doon in Alloway, made famous by Burns's poem Tam o' Shanter.
Dumfries And Galloway
Ellisland Farm
The working farm north of Dumfries where Robert Burns lived and wrote some of his best-known poems.
Scottish Borders
Kelso Abbey
Ruins of one of the four great Border abbeys, founded in the 12th century.
Scottish Borders
Dryburgh Abbey
Atmospheric ruined abbey by the River Tweed near St Boswells, burial place of Sir Walter Scott.
Loch Lomond And Trossachs
Rob Roy's Grave, Balquhidder
The graveyard where the outlaw and folk hero Rob Roy MacGregor is buried, in the quiet village of Balquhidder.
Orkney
Ring of Brodgar
Neolithic stone circle on Orkney, part of the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site, free to visit.
Orkney
Standing Stones of Stenness
Ancient stone circle on Orkney, among the earliest henge monuments in the British Isles, free to visit.
Shetland
Clickimin Broch
Ancient Iron Age broch on the edge of Lerwick, free to explore and easily reached on foot from the town centre.
Perthshire
Dunkeld Cathedral
Part-ruined medieval cathedral on the banks of the River Tay at Dunkeld, with free grounds open to explore.
Argyll And The Isles
Kilmartin Glen
One of Scotland's richest prehistoric landscapes, with free standing stones, burial cairns and rock art across the glen.
Aberdeen And Aberdeenshire
The Bass of Inverurie
Ancient man-made mound in the centre of Inverurie, once the site of a medieval motte-and-bailey castle.