Scotland is an ancient land that boasts a colourful yet dark history that has seen it become a graveyard of sorts for all kinds of abandoned locations. Hospitals with abusive physicians, thriving communities that became ghost villages and a surplus of castles that endured bloody conflict are but a few examples of locations still, but barely, standing in today’s world that offer a glimpse into the past.
Regardless of how we feel about their legacy, what’s for sure is that these irreplaceable sites and their insight into history is being lost as they are left abandoned to fall into disrepair. Recently, we released a poll to our readers asking “Which Scottish building you would like to see restored” and what’s clear is that many people remain passionate about them.
Here are ten Scottish locations then and now that offer a sobering glimpse into the widespread disrepair we see across the country’s ancient architecture.
5. Wardhouse
Wardhouse was built in 1757 for Arthur Gordon, a member of the "Spanish Gordons" family. Located in Insch, Aberdeenshire, it was eventually abandoned in the 1950s as the family who had Iberian lineage moved on to Jerez to make their fortune. Photo: Submitted / Andrew Stuart via Wikimedia Commons
6. Hirta
Hirta is the largest island in the St Kilda archipelago located on the western edge of Scotland. Hirta was the only island of the four in St Kilda to ever be inhabited but it was abandoned by its last residents in 1930 after roughly 2000 years of people living there. Photo: Richard Butters via Pinterest / Eileen Henderson via Wikimedia Commons
7. Binnend Village
This is an abandoned industrial village located two miles north of Burntisland in Fife. The village was built in the 1880s to provide shelter for the Binnend oil workers and their families but this all proved short-lived as the mines were closed in 1894. Photo: Submitted / Kimberley Collins via Wikimedia Commons
8. Hartwood Hospital
Hartwood Hospital, located nearby Shotts, was opened as the Lanark District Asylum in 1895. It closed in 1995 after the Community Care Act 1990 which saw the closure of many Victorian institutions as mental health care strategies were updated to be more community-focused. Photo: via Tour Scotland / Thomas Mackay