Then and now: 5 vanishing castles of Scotland

Only a single tower remains of Ardencaple Castle on the outskirts of Helensburgh.
Despite its lone standing and graffiti, it remains a rallying point for Clan MacAulay - and a navigational aid for boats on the Firth of Clyde.
Ardencaple was first mentioned in a script of homage to King Edward 1 in 1296.
By the 17th century, the MacAulays had lost most of their money with land disposed of and Ardencaple sold as a roofless ruin.
John Campbell, 4th Duke of Argyll, bought and redeveloped the castle with Robert Adam, the architect of choice, developing the stronghold into a large mansion.
Sold to the Colquhouns of Luss, who built Helensburgh, the castle was sold to to Mrs H Macaulay-Stromberg, a wealthy American, in 1923. She continued the vast restoration of the property and made it her home until her death in 1931.
Ardencaple was requisitioned by the Royal Navy at the outbreak of WWII and demolished in 1957 to make way for housing to support the Faslane Naval Base.

Ecclesgreig Castle near St Cyrus, Aberdeenshire, is said to have been a stop off on Bram Stoker's travels through the North East as he sought inspiration for Dracula.
The estate dates back to the 1500s but the current castle was built by the Forsyth-Grant family in the 1830s. Its fine Victorian Gothic style matched with a rich interior of deep paneling, marble and oversized antiques.
The extravagances were hard to maintain, however, given financial pressures on the family, whose history was in banking and commerce.
The castle was vacated during the 1950s and part of the roof removed due to rot. Some of the building was later used as a grain store.
Ecclesgreig went on the market in 1989 and finally sold 10 years later to Farquhar Estates Limited.
Long standing hopes to turn the castle into the centrepiece of a holiday resort have yet to materialise with the project dogged by planning rows and disputes over land ownership.

Kinloch Castle was once a playground for George Bullough, who inherited the extravagant pile from his father, a Lancashire textile magnate.
Hidden away on Rum, the castle, completed in 1900, attracted a very select crew of both nouveau rich and high society figures drawn for the hunting and the isolation. The house has claimed almost legendary status for the levels of decadence it witnessed.
With the castle, stacked with curios and momentos drawn from around the world, came a mighty walled garden. Greenhouses were filled with peaches and a palm house reportedly full of hummingbirds, turtles and small alligators.
It was used as a hospital for soldiers during the Boer War with the castle becoming neglected during World War I when Bullough and his estate employees called up for duty.
Following the war's end, fewer trips were made to Rum and Bullough died in 1939.
Today, much hard work continues to find a viable future for the gargantuan property.
While it still makes for an arresting site on Rum, the building has fallen into significant disrepair and is now included on the Buildings at Risk register.
A hostel run in the grounds has now closed although tours of Kinloch - where many of Bullough's items remain - are still available in the summer season.
The Friends of Kinloch Castle continue to press for support to revive the castle, which is owned and maintained by Scottish Natural Heritage, custodians of the island.

Red Castle at Lunan Bay in Angus was victim to a bitter breakdown in a 16th Century marriage and has never recovered.
Lady Elizabeth Beaton, the castle's owner, married James Gray in 1579 but her new husband fell in love with her daughter.
After expelled from Red Castle, Gray is said to have returned with his friends and brother - Andrew of Dunninald - to mount a series of attacks on the stronghold. It is said he continued his assaults for two years.
Red Castle was originally built by William of Lion, King of Scots (1165 to 1214) as a defence against feared Viking attacks on Lunan Bay beach.
It was used occasionally as a hunting retreat and later visited by Mary Queens of Scots.
The last person to live in it was a church minister during the 1760s.
It is now a precarious ruin with real concerns that the remaining structure could topple as the mound on which it is built erodes away.

Kilchurn was devastated in 1760 after it was struck by lightning with this ruined, lochside fortress now one of Scotland's most photographed castles.
Kilchurn was built in the mid-1400s and was position on a tiny island in Loch Awe.
Later changes to the water level meant that it is now connected to the mainland.
The castle remained the base of Campbells of Glenorchy for 150 years.
After the first Jacobite Rising of 1689, Kilchurn was converted into a garrison stronghold.
The Campbells tried to sell the castle to the government after the 1715 rebellion but the offer was declined.
The family left in 1740 as it made a new home at Taymouth Castle in Perthshire.
The castle is now in the custody of Historic Environment Scotland which conserves the ruin from further decline.