Scotland · Ruin
Spynie Palace
Spynie Palace (Spynie Castle) was the fortified episcopal residence of the Bishops of Moray near Elgin, Scotland, occupied from the late 12th century into the 17th century. Its most prominent surviving fabric is the large multi-storey tower known as David's Tower, set within a high stone curtain wall and ranges of domestic buildings around a central courtyard.
First raised
1150
Its prime
1482
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1482
The shape it held in its prime.
A near-square, six-storey stone tower (David's Tower) rises above a roughly rectangular 7-metre-high curtain wall enclosing a grassy courtyard; the tower measures about 19 by 13.5 m and reaches around 22 m, with plain ashlar external walls originally rendered and pierced by narrow slit windows and larger window openings on the ground-floor hall. Adjoining ranges and the east gate project from the curtain wall; the buildings are of warm yellow-brown masonry, with a crenellated parapet and a flag atop the tower.
Its story
The story of Spynie Palace.
Spynie Palace was the fortified seat of the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years, founded in the late 12th century some 500 metres from Holy Trinity Church, the first officially settled cathedral of the diocese. The first castle was a wooden structure, revealed by excavations between 1986 and 1994; for most of its occupied history it was not called a palace — that term first appears in the Registry of Moray in a writ of 1524.
After Bishop Alexander Bur's death in 1397 the King took possession of the vacant see's castle and, perversely, appointed as its warden Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan — the Wolf of Badenoch, who had attacked and burned Elgin Cathedral in June 1390. The building of David's Tower was said to be a reaction to intimidation from the Earl of Huntly, whom Bishop Stewart had excommunicated for failing to pay his taxes; English prisoners of the Rough Wooing were held at Spynie, including Edward Sutton, 4th Baron Dudley, taken at Hume Castle in December 1548.
In 1573 Regent Morton ordered that the castle be made available to the Crown on fifteen days' warning. In 1587 King James VI gave the castle and estate to Alexander Lindsay, 1st Lord Spynie, who held them until he surrendered them back to the Crown in December 1605. Bishop John Guthrie, deposed with all bishops in 1638, continued to live at Spynie with his family. The dominant survival today is the great David's Tower, set within a high curtain wall.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1482.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Spynie Palace — including 5 interiors: tower ground-floor hall, vaulted basement and circular dungeon, northeast spiral staircase and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Spynie Palace with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1482 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Spynie Palace.
The families that held Spynie Palace for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Lindsay
Granted the castle and estate by James VI in 1587; Alexander Lindsay, 1st Lord Spynie, surrendered them back to the Crown in December 1605.
