Cawdor Castle, Scotland.

Cawdor Castle is a tower house set in magnificent gardens, in Macbeth's home territory of Moray, 10 miles east of Inverness in N.E. Scotland. The earliest documented date for the castle is 1454, the date a building license was granted to William, Thane of Cawdor (or Calder, as the name was sometimes spelled). However, some portions of the castle may precede that date. Architectural historians have dated the style of stonework in the oldest portion of the castle to approximately 1380. Shakespeare's play Macbeth took liberties with the story of the historic Scottish King Macbeth, who ruled Scotland after his forces killed King Duncan of Scotland in battle (not assassination, as in the play). The play, first written in 1606, drew from somewhat fanciful tales of King Macbeth written by the monk Andrew of Wyntoun (in Fife) in his Cronykil (completed in 1406). Among the elements Shakespeare's sources took from the monk's stories was the idea of the three prophesying weird sisters, the interview between Macduff and Malcolm, and the coming of Birnam Wood to Dunsinane. However, the castle itself was built long after the events of the play. It still serves as home to the Dowager Countess Cawdor, stepmother of the present 25th Thane of Cawdor. Photo: Kathi Overton, 16 August 2005. Picture and some data courtesy of the Yorck Project, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License (Wikipedia).