What town is closest to the castle once owned by the Scottish inventor who invented a military cannon described by Isaac Newton as "destructive to the human species"?
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David Gregory (physician) David Gregory (20 December 1625 – 1720) was a Scottish physician and inventor. His surname is sometimes spelt as Gregorie, the original Scottish spelling. He inherited Kinnairdy Castle in 1664. Three of his twenty-nine children became mathematics professors. He is credited with inventing a military cannon that Isaac Newton described as "being destructive to the human species". Copies and details of the model no longer exist. Gregory's use of a barometer to predict farming-related weather conditions led him to be accused of witchcraft by Presbyterian ministers from Aberdeen, although he was never convicted.
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Kinnairdy Castle Kinnairdy Castle is a tower house, having five storeys and a garret, two miles south of Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The alternative name is Old Kinnairdy.
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Roaring Meg (cannon) Roaring Meg was the name of several powerful cannons used in the 17th century. It is not to be confused with Mons Meg, a medieval bombard preserved at Edinburgh Castle.
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Kilravock Castle Kilravock Castle (pronounced "Kilrawk") is located near the village of Croy, between Inverness and Nairn, in the council area of Highland, Scotland. It was begun around 1460, and has been the seat of the Clan Rose since that time. The castle is a composite of a 15th-century tower house and several later additions. The original name for the castle was "Cill Rathaig"; Scottish Gaelic meaning "church at the small circular fort".
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Castle Varrich Castle Varrich (Scottish Gaelic: "Caisteal Bharraich" ) is in the far north of the Scottish Highlands, near the village of Tongue. The castle is on a local high point of rock, overlooking both the Kyle of Tongue and the village of Tongue. The castle's precise origins and age are unknown.
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Castle town A castle town is a settlement built adjacent to or surrounding a castle. Castle towns were common in Medieval Europe. Some examples include small towns like Alnwick and Arundel, which are still dominated by their castles. In Western Europe, and England particularly, it is common for cities and towns that were not castle towns to instead have been organized around cathedrals.
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Leslie Castle Leslie Castle is a castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the historical seat of Clan Leslie, located just to the west of Auchleven, or about 45 km northwest of Aberdeen. It was built on the site of a former castle (probably a wooden motte and bailey) around 1661 as "the last fortified house in Scotland". In the late 1970s restoration of the castle was begun and by the end of the 1980s this was completed. In 1995, a Leslie Clan Gathering was held at Leslie Castle. It is now operated as bed and breakfast accommodation.
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Dumbarton Castle Dumbarton Castle (Scottish Gaelic: "Dùn Breatainn" , ] ) has the longest recorded history of any stronghold in Scotland. It overlooks the Scottish town of Dumbarton, and sits on a plug of volcanic basalt known as Dumbarton Rock which is 240 ft high.
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Taymouth Castle Taymouth Castle is situated to the north-east of the village of Kenmore, Perth and Kinross in the Highlands of Scotland, in an estate which encompasses 450 acres. It lies on the south bank of the River Tay, about a mile from Loch Tay, in the heartland of the Grampian Mountains. Taymouth is bordered on two sides by mountain ranges, by Loch Tay on the third and by the confluence of the rivers Lyon and Tay on the fourth.
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Dirleton Castle Dirleton Castle is a medieval fortress in the village of Dirleton, East Lothian, Scotland. It lies around 2 mi west of North Berwick, and around 19 mi east of Edinburgh. The oldest parts of the castle date to the 13th century, and it was abandoned by the end of the 17th century.
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Stockport Castle Stockport Castle was a promontory castle in Stockport, Cheshire. The castle was in the medieval town, overlooking a ford over the River Mersey. It was first documented in 1173, but the next mention of it is in 1535 when it was in ruins. What remained of the castle was demolished in 1775.
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Cairnburgh Castle Cairnburgh Castle is a ruined castle that is located on the islands of Cairn na Burgh Mòr and Cairn na Burgh Beag, Argyll and Bute, Scotland. These islands are at the northern extremity of the Treshnish Isles at the mouth of Loch Tuath, Mull north of Iona. 1991's "The Changing Scottish Landscape" characterizes it as "one of the most isolated fortifications in Britain...[and] also one of the strangest."
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Harden Castle Harden Castle is a 16th century tower house, about 3.5 mi west of Hawick, Scottish Borders. It is alternatively known as Harden House or Harden Tower.
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Lews Castle Lews Castle (Scottish Gaelic: "Caisteal Leòdhais") is a Victorian era castle located west of the town of Stornoway, Isle of Lewis, Scotland. It was built in the years 1844-51 as a country house for Sir James Matheson who had bought the whole island a few years previously with his fortune from the Chinese Opium trade. It was designed by the Glasgow architect Charles Wilson.
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Cluny Castle Cluny Castle was originally built c.1604 as a Z-plan castle replacing either a house or small peel tower. Sited in the parish of Cluny, it is south of Monymusk and north of Sauchen in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland. Owned by three separate branches of Gordon families over the centuries, it was used to shelter Jacobite rebels in the mid-18th century. Extensive additions were made in 1820 to the design of architect John Smith when it was in the ownership of Colonel John Gordon. Two wings of the castle and the adjoining private chapel were destroyed by fire in 1926, but the damage was restored.
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Dingwall Dingwall (Scots: "Dingwal" , Scottish Gaelic: "Inbhir Pheofharain" ) (] ) is a town and a royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It has a population of 5,491. It was formerly an east-coast harbour but now lies inland. Dingwall Castle was once the biggest castle north of Stirling. On the town's present-day outskirts lies Tulloch Castle, parts of which may date back to the 12th-century building. In 1411 the Battle of Dingwall is said to have taken place between the Clan Mackay and the Clan Donald.
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Kelburn Castle Kelburn Castle is a large house near Fairlie, North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is the seat of the Earl of Glasgow. Originally built in the thirteenth century (the original keep forms the core of the house) it was remodelled in the sixteenth century. In 1700 the first Earl made further extensions to the house in a manner not unlike a French "château" which is virtually how it appears today. In 1977 the house and grounds opened to the public as a country park. It is one of the oldest castles in Scotland and has been continuously inhabited by the same family for longer than any other. The castle is protected as a category A listed building, while the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
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Castle of Rattray The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a ""late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte"" it provided protection for Starny Keppie harbour and Rattray village. Sometime between 1214 and 1233 it was upgraded by William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan before being destroyed in the 1308 Harrying of Buchan. After Comyn's timber castle was burned down it was replaced by a stronger stone castle which was engulfed during a 1720 sand storm along with nearby Rattray village. After the storm, the castle was not dug out and remains covered to this day. The castle was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire.
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Dalcross Castle Dalcross Castle is a restored 17th century tower house, about 1.5 mi south west of Croy, Highland, Scotland, about 7 mi north and east of Inverness. The castle stands on a ridge.
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Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth Woolsthorpe (formally known as Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth to distinguish it from Woolsthorpe-by-Belvoir in the same county) is a hamlet in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is best known as the birthplace of Sir Isaac Newton.
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Castle Semple Castle Semple (previously Castletoun) is a former mansion house located in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It is situated near the eastern end of Castle Semple Loch, within Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. Erected, or more probably rebuilt, by John Sempill, 1st Lord Sempill, he changed its name from Castletoun to Castle-Semple. In Willem Blaeu's "Atlas Maior", published in 1654, the castle is represented by a mark denoting the largest size of castles. In George Crawford's "History of Renfrewshire" (1710), he noted, ""Upon the brink of the loch stands the castle of Sempill, the principal messuage of a fair lordship of the same denomination, which consists of a large court, part of which seems to be a very ancient building, adorned with pleasant orchards and gardens."" According to Gardner, Castleton was built in 1492-3, but Millar states that it was built closer to 1550, as a successor to Elliston Castle.
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Kerelaw Castle Kerelaw Castle is a castle ruin situated on the coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland in the town of Stevenston.