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Cawdor Castle is set amid gardens in the parish of Cawdor, approximately east of Inverness and southwest of Nairn in Scotland. The castle is built around a 15th-century tower house, with substantial additions in later centuries. Originally a property of the Clan Calder, it passed to the Campbells in the 16th century. It remains in Campbell ownership, and is now home to the Dowager Countess Cawdor, stepmother of Colin Campbell, 7th Earl Cawdor. The castle is perhaps best known for its literary connection to William Shakespeare's tragedy ''Macbeth'', in which the title character is made "Thane of Cawdor". However, the story is highly fictionalised, and the castle itself, which is never directly referred to in ''Macbeth'', was built many years after the life of the 11th-century King Macbeth. The castle is a category A listed building,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cawdor Castle (ref:1728) )〕 and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens. ==History== The earliest documented date for the castle is 1454, the date a licence to fortify was granted to William Calder, 6th Thane of Cawdor (or Calder, as the name was originally spelled). However, some portions of the 15th-century tower house or keep may precede that date.〔 Architectural historians have dated the style of stonework in the oldest portion of the castle to approximately 1380. One curious feature of the castle is that it was built around a small, living holly tree. Tradition states that a donkey, laden with gold, lay down to rest under this tree, which was then selected as the site of the castle. The remains of the tree may still be seen in the lowest level of the tower. Modern scientific testing has shown that the tree died in approximately 1372,〔 lending credence to the earlier date of the castle's first construction. The iron yett (gate) here was brought from nearby Lochindorb Castle,〔 which was dismantled by William around 1455, on the orders of King James II, after it had been forfeited by the Earl of Moray. The castle was expanded numerous times in the succeeding centuries. In 1510 the heiress of the Calders, Muriel, married Sir John Campbell of Muckairn,〔 who set about extending the castle. Further improvements were made by John Campbell, 3rd of Cawdor (c.1576 - c.1642), who purchased rich lands on Islay.〔 By 1635 a garden had been added, and after the Restoration Sir Hugh Campbell of Cawdor added or improved the north and west ranges, employing the masons James and Robert Nicolson of Nairn.〔 In the 1680s Sir Alexander Campbell, son of Sir Hugh, became stranded in Milford Haven during a storm, where he met a local heiress, Elizabeth Lort of Stackpole Court.〔 The two were married and afterwards the Campbells of Cawdor lived mainly on their estates in Pembrokeshire. Cawdor was home to younger brothers of the family who continued to manage the estates, building a walled flower garden in 1720, and establishing extensive woodlands in the later 18th century.〔 John Campbell of Cawdor, a Member of Parliament, married a daughter of the 5th Earl of Carlisle in 1789, and was ennobled as Baron Cawdor in 1796. His son was created 1st Earl Cawdor in 1827. During the 19th century, Cawdor was used as a summer residence by the Earls.〔 The architects Thomas Mackenzie and Alexander Ross were commissioned to add the southern and eastern ranges to enclose a courtyard, accessed by a drawbridge.〔 In the 20th century John Campbell, 5th Earl Cawdor, moved permanently to Cawdor and was succeeded by the 6th Earl, whose second wife the Dowager Countess Angelika lives there still. In 2001 it was reported that the Countess had prevented her stepson from sowing genetically modified rapeseed on the Cawdor estate,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Out, out, damn GMOs )〕 and in 2002 the Countess took the Earl to court after he moved into the castle while she was away.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title='Macbeth' castle reopens to public )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Cawdor Castle」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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