Scalloway Castle

In 1599, Patrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, raised Scalloway Castle beside the principal meeting place for the head court on Shetland. This was a bold statement of power.

The castle served as both a residence and a courthouse. Once a bustling stronghold, surrounded by outbuildings and yards, its lone tower now stands as a stark reminder of ambition and authority.

The castle had all the hallmarks of a sophisticated late‑1500s tower house. It featured a wide scale‑and‑platt staircase (a straight stone stair with small landings) along with an integral kitchen and private accommodation suites on the upper floors.

It shared many similarities with another of Patrick Stewart’s buildings, the Earl’s Palace at Kirkwall. The structure is L‑shaped, with the entrance set in the projecting wing at ground level. The kitchen, stores and well were all located on this lower floor.

The great hall occupied the entire first floor. As in many medieval castles, it served both as a space for entertaining guests and for dispensing justice. The two upper floors housed the earl’s private suite and additional guest rooms.

A now-worn away Latin inscription above the door at Scalloway Castle featured a bible quote from Matthew 7:24-26: ‘Ut domus cuius crepidoinis est in a silicis vadum sto sive in sand vadum cado.’ 

This translates as ‘That house whose foundation is rock will stand, but will perish if it be shifting sand.’

Born in 1566 or 1567, Earl Patrick Stewart was a nephew of Mary Queen of Scots. On his father’s death in 1593 he became Earl of Orkney and Lord of Shetland, and he soon earned a reputation as a brutish and oppressive ruler.

Even his father, Earl Robert, wasn’t that keen on him, commenting that he would rather he didn’t grace the royal court where he might “rather do evill thair nor guid”.

He did become close to his cousin King James VI for a short while, but their friendship soured. Patrick fell out of favour with the king after his arrogance and recklessness with money made him a great many enemies. He also made free with assertions of his royal blood, and played the king in Orkney and Shetland. It is thought Patrick also took the side of James’ wife in disputes over how to raise Prince Henry.

He also wasn’t that popular with his neighbours. In the 1590s he fell out with numerous other landowners on Shetland and Orkney, including his brothers and uncle. These quarrels were eventually settled by arbitration.

Patrick began to lead an incredibly lavish lifestyle, surrounding himself with hangers-on. He set about building the sophisticated Scalloway Castle near Lerwick and the ornate Earl’s Palace in Kirkwall to show off his status. Records and local tradition show that Patrick forced local people to work on these building projects for no wages. Despite saving money on constructing his noble residences in this way, Patrick’s excesses led to him being “drownit in debt”.

In 1606, a legal dispute is recorded that gives us further insight to the Earl’s character. It tells of how he summoned Andrew Vinfra to Scalloway Castle and attempted to bully him into signing a contract:

“laying his hand upon his whinger [a short stabbing sword], he threatened with execrable oaths to bereave this Vinfra of his life, and stick him presently through the head with his whinger, if he subscribed not”.

As Partick’s reputation for tyranny grew, attempts were made by the King and nobility to curb his behaviour. A formidable bishop (James Law) was appointed to Orkney, partially to try and control Patrick. But all efforts failed and the errant Earl was ultimately confined in Edinburgh Castle and Dumbarton Castle from 1609 until 1615.

On 6 February 1615, Patrick was executed in Edinburgh. He was beheaded on ‘The Maiden’, an early form of guillotine.

Scalloway continued to be used for administration and justice after Black Patie’s downfall.

In centuries gone by, people suspected of wrongdoing on Shetland would have been dealt with at Scalloway Castle. Verdicts would have been decided and punishments would have been dispensed within these walls.

The ‘maiden’, an early form of guillotine, was still in use in Scalloway at 1640, when a new blade was ordered – a grim reminder of the kind of justice delivered here. English soldiers were quartered in and about the castle during the 1650s.

By 1676, the castle’s doors and windows were destroyed, and the roof timbers too rotten to be repaired. The author Martin Martin wrote: ‘This ancient house is almost ruinous, there being no care taken to repair it’.