Where is Fast Castle?

Fast Castle is in central Scotland, United Kingdom (postcode TD14 5TY).

How do I get to Fast Castle?

The nearest railway station is Reston, about 9.4 km away. Drivers can use postcode TD14 5TY.

Is Fast Castle a listed building?

Fast Castle is officially recognised as scheduled monument listed.

Does Fast Castle charge admission?

Fast Castle typically charges admission. Check the official site for current ticket prices and opening hours.

How do I get to Fast Castle?

Drivers can navigate to postcode TD14 5TY. It sits within the Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk parliamentary constituency.

Castles · Central Scotland

Fast Castle

In or near Coldingham.

Tudor & Stuart♿ Wheelchair: limited★ 4.6 · 72 Google reviews

Fast Castle — medieval castle in Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK.

Fast Castle, castles in Central Scotland — Wikimedia Commons contributors — see linked file page for photographer and licence licence

Plan your visit

Typical visit: 1.5 h–3 h
Nearest railway station: Reston · 9.4 km

Family-friendly
Limited wheelchair access

Getting there & planning your visit

To visit Fast Castle, the nearest railway station is Reston, located 9.4 km away. The postcode for navigation is TD14 5TY. Accessibility is limited for wheelchair users.

Directions on Google Maps →

Fast Castle is a castle in the United Kingdom — fortified architecture from the medieval, Tudor, or Victorian-revival period. Records date its origin to 1522. Heritage designation: scheduled monument. Wikidata describes it as: "medieval castle in Scottish Borders, Scotland, UK". Coordinates: 55.9324°, -2.2239°.

Photo gallery

Heritage listing

Fast Castle is the ruined remains of a coastal fortress in Berwickshire, south-east Scotland, in the Scottish Borders. It lies 4 miles (6.4 km) north west of the village of Coldingham, and just outside the St Abb's Head National Nature Reserve, run by the National Trust for Scotland. The site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.

From the Wikipedia article

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

Background

History

It is unclear when the first structure appeared on the site, but its defensible position must have made it attractive to even the earliest inhabitants of the area. There is evidence of Iron Age habitation here, and it was centrally positioned in the British kingdom of Bryneich, and its Anglo-Saxon successor state of Bernicia. Fast Castle is first recorded in 1333. In 1410, a force led by Patrick Dunbar, second son of the 10th Earl of Dunbar and March seized the castle and imprisoned the governor, Thomas Holden. Its new Scots governor William Haliburton was also able to seize Wark Castle, Northumberland, in 1419. The castle fell into the hands of the Home family (pronounced "Hume"), and in…

Description

Fast Castle, in its heyday, comprised a courtyard and keep, built on a narrow sloping plateau, 27 by, on an eponymous promontory overlooking the North Sea. Cliffs up to 45 m high on either side rendered the castle relatively impregnable. The plateau was surrounded by a curtain wall with towers, with the keep at the northern extremity of the promontory. The castle could only be reached by a drawbridge over a narrow ravine, protected by a barbican. Little remains today of the keep or the courtyard walls except foundations, and a section of the north-east wall. The layout of the castle is very similar to that of Dunnottar Castle in Aberdeenshire, though Fast Castle is on a smaller scale.…

Sourced from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Coordinates: 55.9324, -2.2239
District: Scottish Borders
Postcode: TD14 5TY
Parliamentary constituency: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
Established: 1522
Nearest railway station: Reston — 9.4 km
Official site: www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk

Sources

wikidata: Q2557884 (CC0)
wikipedia: Fast Castle (CC BY-SA 4.0)
commons: Fast castle - 19092010.jpg (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Other places nearby

Nearby

Fast Castle Head - geograph.org.uk - 5456603

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