A timely look at the world’s first ‘nationalist’ style of architecture - the castles of the Scotch Baronial

This book takes a timely look at how Scotland’s national politics have been expressed in its buildings, exploring the role the architecture of Scotland – in particular its world-famous ‘castle architecture’ – has played the ongoing narrative of Scots national identity. Scotch Baronial examines many of the country’s most important historic buildings – from the palaces left behind by the ‘lost’ monarchy, to revivalist castles and proud town halls – examining their architectural styles and tracing their wildly fluctuating political and national connotations. An introduction to a key episode in British architectural history, and a valuable resource for anyone studying the role of architecture in narratives of nationalism and empire globally, Scotch Baronial ends by bringing the story into the 21st century, exploring how contemporary ‘neo-modernist’ architecture in today’s Scotland, as exemplified in the Holyrood parliament, relates to concepts of national identity in architecture over the previous centuries.

"An ambitious and wide-ranging account of the complex interplay, over more than eight centuries, between castellated architecture and changing concepts of national identity in Scotland ... The authors are to be congratulated on maintaining an appropriate balance and pace across such a broad chronological span and such an intricately interwoven set of themes." - Castle Studies

"It is always a pleasure to pick up an elegantly written book, which wears its research lightly, yet doesn’t skimp on scholarship." - Innes Review

"Glendinning and Mackenchnie are alive to the political and social developments that underscored Scottish architectural practice. … Scotch Baronial is an absorbing and authoritative study that should invite a wide readership." - Scotia: Interdisciplinary Journal of Scottish Studies