Skip to content
The Great Britain Guide

Castles · Scottish Highlands

Stirling Heads

♿ Wheelchair: limited

Stirling Heads in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom.

Inside the Great Hall at Stirling Castle - geograph.org.uk - 3212500

Mike Pennington — CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit
1.5 h–3 h
  • Family-friendly
  • Limited wheelchair access

About

Stirling Heads is a place of interest in Scotland Islands, United Kingdom — drawn from open-data sources for visitor reference. See the linked Wikipedia article for the full description.

Photo gallery

From the Wikipedia article

The Stirling Heads are a group of large oak portrait medallions made around the year 1540 to decorate the ceiling of a room at Stirling Castle. The style, in origin, was based on Italian architectural decoration and at Stirling was probably derived from a French source. Similar medallions carved in stone adorn Falkland Palace.

Excerpt from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0. See the source article linked in Sources below.

Background

History

James V of Scotland rebuilt the royal lodgings at Stirling Castle to form a new Palace, which included suites for the king and his consort Mary of Guise. The building works were supervised by James Hamilton of Finnart. There is very little documentation for the works. James V may have been inspired by a current belief that the Roman general Gnaeus Julius Agricola had rebuilt Stirling Castle "with diligence and sumptuous expense", and some of the medallion head carvings may have been intended to depict ancient heroes as supposed forebears of the Stewart dynasty. The Stirling Heads represent James's ambitions for the interiors of his palaces, and seem based on French models which derive in…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates
56.1239, -3.9478
District
Stirling
Postcode
FK8 1EJ
Parliamentary constituency
Stirling and Strathallan
Phone
+44 1786 450000
Opening
Mo-Su 09:30-17:00

Sources

Other places nearby

Loading nearby places…

Nearby

More castles in this region

Frequently asked questions

Where is Stirling Heads?
Stirling Heads is in the Scottish Highlands, United Kingdom (postcode FK8 1EJ).
Does Stirling Heads charge admission?
Stirling Heads typically charges admission. Check the official site for current ticket prices and opening hours.
How do I get to Stirling Heads?
Drivers can navigate to postcode FK8 1EJ. It sits within the Stirling and Strathallan parliamentary constituency.