For many years Stirling Castle was the favourite residence of Scottish kings and Queens until James VI became king of both Scotland and England. Today there are excellent interpretive displays of all aspects of life especially during the Stuart reigns. 
One thing that interested me was about John Damian who joined the court of James IV as a physician and became a great influence on the king.  He convinced the king that he was an alchemist and could transform base metal into gold and was given a great amount of money and opportunities.  However after several unsuccessful attempts which cost the king a great amount he was losing favour with James and in fear of losing his place at court.  Damian then told him that he could make a pair of wings and fly to France.  So in 1507 he leapt off the walls and of course fell down the great height as shown in the photo.  Fortunately he landed on a huge pile of dung from the castle and survived with only a broken leg.  His excuse about the failure was that some hen feathers had been substituted for eagle feathers and hens cannot fly!  He left court shortly after.