The stately Buchanan Castle was once a grand Scottish country house before it was swept up in World War II and subsequently abandoned to the overgrowth.

After the first castle built on the site burned to the ground in 1850, Buchanan Castle was built on its ashes to serve as the grand home of a family of dukes. The house was built in the traditional baronial style with pointed towers and asymmetrical living areas to give the royalty the opulent house they felt they deserved. The royals lived in the house until 1925 when the home was turned into a hotel complete with a golf course.

However, once the Second World War began, the estate was taken over for the war effort and turned into a hospital. During this time, the stately house of healing saw a number those wounded in the war, most famously attending to Rudolph Hess, Hitler’s right-hand man, after he flew to Scotland in 1941. After the war ended the building was briefly used as a school, but was eventually partially demolished and left to nature.

Today, the golf course remains and is still in use, but the castle grounds themselves are covered in creeping plants that are slowly covering all of the still-standing walls.   

Update as of April 2021: The castle is now fenced off and best viewed from a safe distance.