Monty Python and the Holy Grail: The Castles of Camelot

The quest begins in AD 932, with King Arthur and his squire Patsy travelling Britain in search of men for the Knights of the Round Table. Patsy bangs coconut shells together while Arthur mimes riding a horse. The first castle exterior in the film, in the first scene after the titles, is Kidwelly Castle in South Wales. Its present stone walls were most likely begun in the 1270s by Payn de Chaworth. After this brief appearance the film's castles belong to Scotland.

Visitor guidance: Kidwelly Castle is managed by Cadw.

The crew lost permission to film in other castles, so they used different parts of Doune and tight framing to keep the illusion. At the east wall, Arthur and Patsy argue with the French garrison. The Great Hall hosts the "Knights of the Round Table" number, after which Arthur calls Camelot "a silly place". The entryway and courtyard stage the Trojan Rabbit, and the servery and kitchen become Castle Anthrax. Doune is now maintained by Historic Environment Scotland and open to the public; Python fans make pilgrimages.

Visitor guidance: Doune Castle is open to the public and maintained by Historic Environment Scotland.

In the Tale of Sir Lancelot, an arrow-shot note leads Lancelot to Swamp Castle. Believing a lady is being forced to marry, he storms in and slaughters several wedding guests, only to discover that the author is an effeminate prince. Bodiam Castle supplies the single exterior shot of Swamp Castle. The wedding itself was filmed in Doune's courtyard and Great Hall. Bodiam is a moated castle in East Sussex, built in 1385 by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge, owned by the National Trust since 1925.

Visitor guidance: Bodiam Castle is owned by the National Trust and open to the public.

Tim the Enchanter directs the knights to a cave where the location of the Grail is said to be written, its entrance guarded by the Rabbit of Caerbannog. The knights underestimate it, and the Rabbit easily kills Bors, Gawain and Ector, until Arthur destroys it with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. The scene was filmed at Tomnadashan mine. A real white rabbit was used, switched with puppets for its killings.

At the Bridge of Death the bridgekeeper demands that each knight answer three questions or be cast into the Gorge of Eternal Peril. Cocky Robin is defeated by an unexpectedly difficult question and indecisive Galahad fails an easy one; both are magically flung into the gorge. Then Arthur asks for clarification on the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow, and the bridgekeeper, who cannot answer, is himself thrown in. The Pass of Glen Coe stood in for the bridge and the gorge.

Location precision: The sources name the Pass of Glen Coe but not the exact spot of the bridge; the pin marks the glen.

Visitor guidance: The A82 road runs through the glen, described as one of the classic Highland journeys; the glen is the home of Scottish mountaineering.

After being repelled by showers of manure, Arthur's knights summon an army and prepare to assault the castle. As it charges, the police arrive, arrest Arthur and Bedevere for the murder of a historian struck down earlier in the film, and break the camera, abruptly ending the film. Castle Stalker played the Castle Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh: a four-storey tower house on a tidal islet in Loch Laich, which the Stewarts built in its present form around the 1440s. A drunken bet around 1620 passed it to Clan Campbell.

Visitor guidance: In private ownership and open to the public at selected times during the summer; visible from the A828 between Oban and Glen Coe.