John Pringle dons the traditional Morion Helmet award

One of the Association's longest serving members, John Pringle, received the Nigel Tranter Memorial Award for 2009 in recognition of his outstanding contribution to creating a modern photographic archive of Scottish Castles.

A keen and gifted photographer, John built up his collection of photos of castles on his extensive journeys around Scotland, some of which were with fellow members on SCA visits.

In order to create a complete record of Scottish castles and towers built before 1700 which still existed in some form in moderntimes, he had first to research and draw up a list of their names, locations and historical provenance; a minimum of two pieces of bona fide evidence was his criterion.

The list that John has created is believed to be the most complete ever assembled. As an active member of the Scottish Castles Association he has agreed that his list and photographic archive of over 85% of Scottish Castles and Tower Houses should be used as a feature on this website. This invaluable contribution will form an important part of our website and will be located in the Member's Only Section.

His achievements have drawn praise from all who have seen his work, including senior staff at Historic Scotland. The SCA ishonoured to be able to use this important resource as a key component of our objective of building the new Website to create a record of all Scotland's castles and towers at the beginning of the 21st century.

Unfortunately, John was unable to attend the 2009 AGM at Motherwell to receive his award but accepted it at a later date. It's easy to appreciate his Border Riever ancestry from this photo, as he dons the traditional Morion Helmet award.