Castles – Central Scotland, Fife & Clackmannan

‘Build Date’ refers to the oldest surviving significant elements; In column 1; FC ≡ Fife & Clackmannanshire Build Occupation FC Castle Location Configuration Current Remains Date Status

1 Aberdour NT 193 854 Enclosure + tower c1200 Part-occupied High ruins of tower, other buildings roofed 2 Aithernie NO 379 035 Fortified house c1600 Empty, 18th C A fragment of 1 corner 3 Alloa NS 889 925 Tower 1360s Occupied Entire, but modified inside and outside 4 Ardross NO 509 007 Tower + hall 14th C Empty, 17th C Low ruins of tower & hall block 5 Balfour NO 324 003 Tower Mid-16th C Empty, 20th C Scattered low ruins of mansion with tower 6 Balgonie NO 313 007 Tower + barmkin 1370s Occupied Re-roofed tower, ruined ranges 7 Ballinbreich NO 272 205 Tower + barmkin 14th C Empty, 18th C Ruins, visible only from a distance 8 Balwearie NT 252 904 Tower + barmkin 1464 Empty, 17th C High ruin of 1 wall of tower 9 Campbell NS 962 994 Tower + barmkin 15th C Empty, 17th C Re-roofed tower + other ruins NO 353 144 th th 10 Carslogie Tower 16 C Empty, 19 C Ruin of lower storeys 11 Clackmannan NS 905 920 Tower + barmkin c1360 Empty, c1800 Entire 12 Collairnie NO 307 170 Tower 16th C Empty, recent Wing of tower in disrepair 13 Corston NO 208 098 Tower Late-16th C Empty, 18th C? High ruin of single wall 14 Creich NO 329 212 Tower + barmkin 16th C Empty, 18th C High ruin 15 Cruivie NO 419 229 Tower c1500 Empty, 18th C? Ruin of lower storeys 16 Dairsie NO 414 160 Fortified house 16th C Occupied Rebuilt, rather than restored 17 Denmylne NO 249 175 Tower 15th C Empty, 18th C High ruin 18 Earlshall NO 465 211 Fortified House 16th/17th C Occupied Restored, 1890s 19 Falkland NO 254 075 Fortified house c1510 Occupied South range entire, ruined east range 20 Fernie NO 316 147 Tower 16th C Occupied Much altered and added to, now a hotel 21 Hallyards NT 212 914 Tower + barmkin 16th/17th C Empty, 18th C Fragments 22 Kellie NO 520 052 Tower c1360 Occupied Expanded, and then restored in the 19th C 23 Largo NO 418 034 Fortified house c1600 Empty, 1750 Single corner tower + length of wall 24 Lochore NT 175 959 Tower + barmkin c1300 Empty, 17th C Ruins of tower + barmkin wall 25 Lordscairnie NO 348 178 Tower + barmkin 15th C Empty, 17th C High ruin of tower 26 MacDuff NT 344 972 2 X courtyard c1300 Empty, 17th C High ruin of tower + walls 27 Menstrie NS 852 968 Fortified house c1560 Occupied Lightly restored & modified internally 28 Monimail NO 299 141 Tower 16th C Empty, 18th C Tower, surviving part of mansion 29 Mountquhannie NO 347 212 Tower Early-16th C Empty, 1830 High roofless ruin, later ancillary buildings 30 Newark (Fife) NO 518 012 Fortified house 15th C Empty, 19th C Ruins at cliff-edge 31 Pitcruvie NO 413 046 Tower Late-15th C Empty, 18th C High ruin 32 Pittarthie NO 522 091 Fortified house Late-16th C Empty, 19th C High roofless ruin 33 Pitteadie NT 257 891 Tower 15th C Empty, 19th C High ruin 34 Ravenscraig NT 291 925 Twin-towers 1460 Empty, 17th C High ruins 35 Rosyth NT 110 821 Tower + barmkin c1450 Empty, 18th C High ruins 36 Sauchie NS 896 957 Tower + barmkin 1430s Empty, 18th C Tower entire, but barmkin ruined 37 Scotstarvit NO 370 113 Tower c1500 Empty, 18th C Building, entire 38 Seafield NT 280 885 Tower + barmkin Early-16th C Empty, 18th C Incomplete shell, with traces of barmkin 39 St. Andrews NO 513 169 Enclosure Late-14th C Empty, 17th C Extensive low ruins 40 Struthers NO 377 097 Tower + barmkin? 14th C Empty, 19th C Scattered ruined fragments 41 Tulliallan Old NS 927 888 Fortified house c1300 Empty, 1660 High, roofless ruin, fragments of curtain wall 42 Wemyss NT 329 251 Tower + curtain 1421 Occupied Tower modified and amongst newer buildings

Notes;

1. A total of 42 castles have been identified in Central Scotland in the counties of Fife & Clackmannanshire. My selection philosophy has been to include the great majority of those I have already visited and such others as I think interesting, with the proviso that there will normally be coherent masonry; I have usually excluded those which have benefitted from a modern reconstruction which could be described as a rebuild. There are remains of many more castles in the counties concerned, which I do not consider, often because they are inaccessible or fragmentary. So, my gazetteer is best regarded as a sample, albeit quite a large one, and any tentative conclusions I draw need to be seen in that light.

2. To-date, I have visited 40 of the 42 castles on my list, and the following comments refer to them only

3. There are 30 tower houses, 17 of which show surviving evidence of a barmkin. There are no motte and bailey types on the list because none have surviving coherent masonry. There are 2 enclosure types, (to be clear, they were defended by the towers and walls round the enclosure, whether or not there was a keep, whereas the defences of a tower and barmkin were dominated by the former, and barmkins were far less elaborate (and less expensive). There are 10 fortified houses, which apart from moats where they were present, depended on precautionary measures such as eliminating exterior windows, and providing arrow-or gun-loops.

4. Few castles date from earlier than the 2nd half of the 14th century, because the Scottish government had a policy of demolishing them to deny them to English forces during the Wars of Independence.

5. Only 10 castles remain occupied, and 4 of them were empty for a period before refurbishment/rebuilding. Of those now empty, none was deserted before the 17th century, and 20 were deserted in 18th century or later.

FC1. Aberdour Castle is south of the A921 and the railway in the coastal village of that name, which is 11km south-west of Kirkcaldy. The barony of Aberdour was acquired in 1126, by Sir Alan de Mortimer; the family probably built the original hall house in c1200. A member of the Douglas clan acquired the property in 1342, and in 1386, it was combined with Dalkeith in a single barony. James, fourth Lord Dalkeith, was created Earl of Morton in 1458, prior to his marriage to Joanna, the daughter of King James I. In the following years, Aberdour Castle was remodelled in accordance with the new status of its owners, but they came close to losing it along with their other possessions during the reign of King James V. The 4th Earl rose to be Regent of Scotland from 1572 to 1578, and further improved the castle, but was executed in 1581, and the castle was given to the Earl of Lennox. However, the properties of the earldom were recovered in 1587, though the then-Earls losses during the Civil War forced him to sell Dalkeith Palace, making Aberdour Castle his main residence, and prompting further building there. Eventually, in 1725 the Earls moved to Aberdour House, vacating the castle, and though parts found other uses, decay set in, before it was handed over to the state in 1924. The schematic shows the main features of what became an enclosure castle; the ruined tower house has dimensions 16 X 11m, and its lower parts date to c1200. It can be seen in the photograph, viewed from the south-west.

FC2. Aithernie Castle is west of the B927, 6km north of Leven. Probably only a castle in name, the substantial house was built by an Edinburgh merchant, William Rigg in the late 16th or early 17th century. In c1670, it became the property of a family called Watson, but the second generation were so profligate that the family was ruined thereafter, and the house shared their fate in the century afterwards. However, its reduction to the single corner shown in the photograph, taken from some distance south, must have been due to intensive quarrying of its stone. Little seems to be known about the configuration of the house, and observation of the surviving ruin does not yield much additional information.

FC3. Alloa Tower is near the centre of the town of that name. The lower parts of the tower have been considerably modified but date from the 1360s when built by Sir David Erskine, then Chancellor of Scotland, while the upper parts were added in the 1490s. The Erskines, who received the Earldom of Mar in the 1560s, resided in the tower more or less continuously until recent times. Intermissions were caused by their falling out of favour with governments, most famously when John, 6th Earl of Mar, and 1st Jacobite Duke of Mar, a past Secretary of State for Scotland, was attainted in 1716 for his leadership role during the 1715 Rebellion, but the family recovered the property in 1739. The tower is now in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland. The 4-storey tower has dimensions 19.3 X 12.2m, with walls 3m thick, but the modern windows visible in the view of the front, from the south-east, are an indication that internally, little remains that is medieval. At the top of the building, there are bartizans on all 4 corners and also above the entrance in the south-east face. At one point, a wing was added but it has been removed, and there are no traces of any ancillary buildings which may or may not have stood at different times.

FC4. Ardross Castle is on the coast, south of the A917, and 2km south-west of St. Monans. The property is recorded in the 12th century, but the castle was most likely built Sir William Dishington, Sheriff of Fife, who acquired the property in 1368. The castle was built on a raised beach overlooking the Firth of Forth. It was a small fortified tower house, of dimensions, 11 X 8.6m over walls 2m thick, with a vaulted chamber at ground level and, presumably, a hall and accommodation on the upper floors. At some point after the construction of that tower, a further large rectangular structure was added to the south. This may have been a Great Hall, though only the basement survives. The Dishingtons held the castle until the early 17th century, but 80 years later, it was sold to Sir William Anstruther. Rather than occupy the elderly fortification, he built a new manor house nearby using stone quarried from Ardross Castle. The photograph shows ruins of the tower of the castle, now often referred to as Elie Castle.

FC5. Balfour Castle is just south of Milton of Balgonie, 5½km west of Leven; it can be viewed across a field from a farm track. The barony gave its name to its owners in the 12th century, and they have remained prominent in the affairs of Fife ever since. However, their direct male line failed in the late 14th century, and a daughter and the barony were awarded to the Bethunes or Beatons who produced 2 Cardinal- Archbishops of St. Andrews before the Reformation. They built a tower house on a small knoll in the mid-16th century. The dimensions are recorded as 13.3 X 8.6m with walls 1.8m thick, so the building was meant to be defensible, a necessity given the turbulent family history. In the 17th century the tower was incorporated in a larger mansion which eventually came back into the possession of a Balfour of Balgonie in the 19th century. The mansion, and with it the tower, were demolished as late as the 1980s, but the destruction was comprehensive, and all that can be seen now is a scatter of low ruins, overgrown with trees and other vegetation, as in the photograph.

FC6. Balgonie Castle is on the right bank of the River Leven, 3½km east of Glenrothes. The tower (keep) and barmkin with its enclosing wall and gatehouse were built in the 1370s by Sir Thomas Sibbald but apart from a visit by King James IV, nothing much is recorded of its history over the next 2½ centuries, though a north range was added. In 1627 it was purchased by Sir Alexander Leslie, later 1st Earl of Leven, a Swedish Field Marshal and Covenant general during the Civil War. (He was also alleged to be the crooked man of the nursery rhyme). The castle remained with his descendants in deteriorating condition, perhaps not helped by its temporary occupation by Rob Roy MacGregor in 1715, until it was sold in 1824. It continued to decay until recent years when it and the lairdship was acquired by a family called Morris who are attempting to restore the castle. The lay-out is shown in the schematic, and the 4-storey tower has dimensions, 13.3 X 10.6m with walls 2.4m thick. The basement and the hall above are both vaulted, though not internally connected, and the two floors above constitute the laird’s living quarters. The north range, dating to the 1490s, had basement storage and a hall and private room above. The 1st Earl, and his immediate successors, made significant modifications, and built an east range. Only the tower was roofed when I visited a few years ago and enjoyed a tour guided by the laird and 2 very large Irish Wolfhounds. The photograph is a view from the south.

FC7. Ballinbreich Castle is on the right bank of the River Tay estuary, 4km north- east of Newburgh. The estate was obtained by the Leslies from the Abernethys by marriage in 1312, and the tower and barmkin castle was built later in the 14th century. Thereafter its history is mainly of remodelling, twice in the 16th century, by its owners who had become Earls of Rothes in the 15th century. The Barony of Ballinbreich, including the castle, was sold to finance the rebuilding of Leslie House, the main seat of the family, which had burnt down in 1763. Its condition then is not clear, but judging by its present condition, quarrying was probably added to decay over the succeeding years. The aerial view from the east shows the main features. The tower in the left centre of the photograph, together with a 2m thick enclosure wall, survive from the original castle. Along the walls, various buildings were added in the 16th century, including a D-shaped tower, a new gateway, and possibly 2 hall blocks.

FC8. Balwearie Castle is on the western outskirts of Kirkcaldy, 2½ km from the centre, and reachable to the south of the B925. The property came into the hands of a branch of the Scott family more associated with the Scottish borders, in the early 13th century. Legend has it that Michael Scott, known as the Wizard, was brought up there at that time, and later travelled Europe acquiring knowledge and the reputation conveyed by the soubriquet, before his death in c1235. There surely was a fortified house of some description on the site at this time, but no trace of it remains. Instead the ruin to be seen now is of a tower erected in 1464, by a William Scott. The ashlar building was rectangular, of dimensions12.9 X 8.4m, with walls 1.8m thick, and had 4 storeys below a parapet. The lowest floor was a vaulted basement, and above were a hall and private rooms for the owner. The property passed from the Scott family to the Earl of Melville in the late- 17th century, and it may well have ceased to be occupied then. Quarrying may have been responsible for the collapse of 3 of its 4 walls which has ensued, leaving only the east wall, and fragments of the north and south walls, as shown in the 2 photographs, the upper taken from the north-east by myself; the lower culled from the internet was taken from the south-west. It is thought that there was once a barmkin, which would have aided defence, though the castle does not seem to have been attacked at any time.

FC9. Castle Campbell is in Dollar Glen, just north of the town of Dollar, which is 10½km north-east of Alloa. The castle visible now, dates from the 15th century, but there is doubt as to whether the tower was built in the 1st half of the century, damaged in 1460, inherited by the Campbells in the 1480s, and restored, or alternatively completely rebuilt then. At all events, the then Earl of Argyll obtained documentation to change the name from Castle Gloom to Castle Campbell in 1489, and it became the main lowland residence of the earls. During the following century they built the other buildings seen in the view from the west; the hall block to the right (south), the connecting east range, and other smaller buildings, now reduced to foundations. The 8th Earl was prominent in Scottish events associated with the Civil War and its aftermath, but failed to steer a safe course, and the castle was burnt in 1654, and he was executed in 1661, while his son the 9th Earl suffered the same fate after a failed revolt against King James VII. The family returned to favour after the Revolution of 1688, and the then-Earl was advanced to a Dukedom, but Inveraray Castle became the preferred residence and Castle Campbell was not repaired. It was transferred to the state in 1948, and the tower has been re-roofed. The tower has dimensions, 13 X 9m with walls 2.2m thick, and had a conventional lay-out with a vaulted basement and hall above, and 2 floors of private rooms above that. The hall block had cellars below and private rooms in addition to the hall, above.

FC10. Carslogie Castle is 2½km west of the centre of Cupar, in a farm steading north of the A91, though visible at a distance from a minor road to its north. The Clephane family held the property from the 14th century, though the ruined building, which can be seen now, probably dates from the late 16th century. It has dimensions, 15 X 9m and has walls 1.5m thick. The basement was divided into 5 vaulted cellars, and the floor above may have been the hall, though with windows dating from the 18th century. It is not possible to say anything about higher storeys or about its overall height because of the ruined condition. It was allegedly occupied until the 19th century, so was probably quarried thereafter to reduce it to its present state. The photograph was taken from the north.

FC11. Clackmannan Tower is on top of a hill on the west side of the small town of Clackmannan which is c2km south-east of Alloa. The original 4-storey tower of dimensions,11.5 X 8.6m was built in c1360 by a descendent of King Robert the Bruce. A wing, 1 storey higher with a machiolated wall-walk was added to the south in the 15th century, and the original tower was raised by 1 storey + an attic within a machiolated parapet. The barmkin was presumably an original feature with much higher walls than now. The occupation of the tower by the Bruce family seems to have been trouble-free until the 18th century, when a decision to back the Jacobites, must have contributed to their becoming impoverished. The house ceased to be occupied in c1800, and is now in state ownership, and occasionally open to the public. The arrangements in the tower were conventional with vaulted basements and a hall on the lower floors and bedrooms above; the wing provided the space for a kitchen at hall level, extra bedrooms and additional stairs. The photograph is a view from the south.

FC12. Collairnie Castle has been incorporated in a farm steading, 7½km north-west of Cupar. It was a 16th century, L-plan tower house, built by a branch of the Balfour family, with the wing to the north-east added after the main block, in 1581. In the early 19th century the tower was sold, and in the 1840s it was remodelled by reducing the height of the main block to a single storey, and adding other buildings. Only the wing of the original castle was retained at its full height of 4 storeys; it is 6.6m square with gun-loops and bartizans at 2 corners to the east. The photograph, taken from the north, at some distance because the property is private, indicates that the main block which was where the low red-roofed building is now, probably had 3 storeys, judging by the features on the wall of the wing once attached to it. There is no reason to believe the layout was not conventional with a hall above cellars, and access was given by the rectangular stair turret in the re-entrant angle which survives to full height on the right of the wing. As is obvious from the photograph, the building is not in good repair, if not yet a ruin.

FC13. Corston Castle is just west of the village of Strathmiglo, 7½km south-west of Auchtermuchty, close to the right bank of the River Eden. The estate of Corston is associated with Sir John Ramsay, Lord Bothwell, who forfeited it after the murder of King James III in 1488, when he refused to swear allegiance to his son King James IV, whom he held responsible. However, Ramsays continued in possession, and the ruined castle which is thought to date from the late 16th century was most likely a remodelling of an earlier building. It passed to the Colquhoun family in the late 17th century, but its history thereafter is rather obscure. Presumably it had ceased to be inhabited some time before most of it collapsed in the 1880s leaving only the east wall rising to any height as shown in the photograph taken from a minor road to the south-west. Enough masonry remains to fix the dimensions of the rectangular building as 8.1 X 6.6m, with walls slightly over 1m thick; there were 3 storeys, with a storage basement below a hall, and private rooms.

FC14. Creich Castle, which was most likely not the first fortification on the site, is on a mound beside a farm steading, 10½km north-east of Newburgh. It was built in the 16th century, probably by the Beaton family as an L-shaped tower house. The main block has dimensions, 11.7 X 8.4m and had 3 storeys, while the wing to the south had 4. Internal arrangements were conventional, with basements for storage, a hall above and a room above that in the main block, with the wing probably accommodating a kitchen and extra bedrooms. There was probably a barmkin, because c20m to the west, are the remains of a small tower which could have been part of a gateway, or a protective wall. The castle was defended on the south-east by a morass, which has lately been drained, and on the other sides by strong outworks, parts of which have been taken down. Little is known of the later history of the castle, save that it passed to the local Balfour family; its appearance suggests that it has not been inhabited for at least 2 centuries, though a double-chambered rectangular dovecot dated 1723, suggests that it was lived in for some time after that date. The photograph is a view from the north.

FC15. Cruivie Castle is tucked behind South Straiton farm steading, 9½km north-east of Cupar. The castle, in the form of an L-shaped tower, viewed from the north in the photograph, may have been built by the Sandilands family of Mid Calder, in c1500, though it could be a few decades older. Its situation and 2.6m thick walls suggest a military function, as does the 1st floor entrance with storerooms on the ground floor, reachable only from above. Otherwise the lay-out was conventional with a main hall and bedrooms above, in a building of dimensions, 15 X 10.4m, though its ruined state gives no clue as to the configuration of the rooms above or the original height. It passed to local families of Ramseys and Carnegies later in the 16th century, but beyond that, little seems to be known. Certainly it was ruinous by the mid-19th century, and my guess based on its condition would be that it ceased to be inhabited, at least a century earlier.

FC16. Dairsie Castle is above the left bank of the River Eden, 4km north-east of Cupar, and 1½km south of the village of Dairsie The castle dates from around 1300, and was built for Bishop Lamberton of St. Andrews. It remained a clerical residence until sold to a family called Learmonth in 1517, and they largely rebuilt it. The castle remained in their hands until acquired by Archbishop Spottiswoode, builder of a nearby church in 1616. Although the archbishop generally prospered under the Stuart Kings until shortly before his death in 1639, his royalist progeny suffered executions and exactions during the Civil War and Interregnum, and the family never really recovered. Thereafter, the property passed through many hands, decayed, and was used as a quarry, until it reached the ruined state shown in the lower photograph. In the 1990s it was rebuilt, but little attention seems to have been given to its original form. The 16th century castle comprised a rubble-built main block, of dimensions 17.6 X 9.3m, and with walls 1.8m thick, aligned south-west/north-east; north and south round towers with gun-loops were added in c1620, and along with the relatively thick walls justify the building’s classification as a fortified house. Arrangements in the main block were conventional with vaulted store-rooms in the ground floor, a hall and kitchen above, and bedrooms above them.

FC17. Denmylne Castle is beside the A913, between a farmhouse and a ruined steading, just over 1km south-east of the outskirts of Newburgh. In the 14th century the property was held by the Earls of Fife, but by the mid-15th century it was in possession of the Balfours, and some parts of the tower house probably date back to then, even though there were additions and modifications made for the next 2 centuries. The family encountered considerable misfortune during the years of their possession, with owners dying young and sometimes violently, but they retained the castle until 1779 when it was sold. This spelt its doom because the new owners lived elsewhere, and it was in ruins by the mid-19th century. The 3-storey main block, was rectangular, of dimensions, 12.4 X 7.2m wide, with a small projection on the long south-west wall, and a disproportionately large stair turret projecting from the north-east wall, which can be seen in the photograph taken from the north-east. There seem to have been 2 rooms at each level, presumably a kitchen and store in the vaulted basement, a hall and lord’s chamber above, and bedrooms above that. There was a corbelled parapet around a walkway on the roof. There are remains of a dovecot, but any barmkin must have been demolished to make way for the now ruined farm steading.

FC18. Earlshall Castle is just beyond the eastern edge of the town of Leuchars, on the edge of the airfield. Centred on the Z-shaped mansion shown in the upper photograph which is a view from the south-east, it took a long time in building as it was founded in 1546 by Sir William Bruce and completed in 1617 by his great-grandson. The castle is unusual in retaining a barmkin wall with an entrance to a small courtyard within, shown in the lower photograph which is a view from the west. The wall connects the south wing of the house with another 3-storey tower which as a protruding north wing containing a staircase. The building was almost derelict by the time that Sir Robert Lorimer restored it in in the 1890s, so it contains much of his work. Never other than a fortified mansion, it is described fully by Gifford, in the Fife volume of the Pevsner Buildings of Scotland, and along with its gardens is now looked after by the National Trust for Scotland, though parts are private residences.

FC19. Falkland Palace is in the small village of that name which is 7km north of Glenrothes. It began life as a Royal hunting lodge, perhaps in the 12th century, and a castle was in existence by the end of the 13th century. It did not survive the Wars of Scottish Independence, whether destroyed by English invaders or more likely Scottish forces to deprive the English; traces of 2 round towers survive in gardens to the north of the palace. The relationship with the infamous tower in which David, Duke of Rothesay was confined and probably murdered in 1402 with at least the connivance of his uncle, Robert, Duke of Albany is unknown. Perhaps surprisingly given this history, Scottish Kings began to redevelop the site in the mid-15th century, but the palace to be seen now is owed largely to King James V. In the 1st two decades of the 16th century, he built the south range which included the gatehouse and a chapel, the east range which included Royal accommodation, and a north range, now vanished which included the great hall, all shown on the schematic. It probably qualified as a fortified house. A west range would have followed but for the King’s death. It was used occasionally by his successors, but in 1650 Cromwellian soldiers burnt part of it and decay followed until the late 19th century, when the Marquis of Bute purchased it and stabilised the buildings. The south range survives mostly complete, but only one wall of the east range stands; it is now looked after by the National Trust for Scotland, though some of their initiatives as regards ‘reconstruction’ are questionable, in my eyes at least. The photograph shows the intersection of the south range, and the ruined east range (left) viewed from the north-west.

FC20. Fernie Castle is beside the A914, 6½km west of Cupar. A castle on the site belonging to the Earls of Fife is recorded in the mid-14th century, but the Fernies seem to have been the owners from the late-15th century. However they lost the property for a short time to Florentin Adinulty in the early 16th century, and he may have begun to build a tower house then, a process carried on when it was regained by the Fernies. However they sold it late in the century and it passed into the hands of the Balfour family in the 17th century, remaining with them until it became a hotel in the 1960s. The 16th century tower house is not prominent in the photograph, taken from the south-east, the ivy covered 3-storey main block being largely hidden behind the tree, but the south-protruding 4-storey wing can be seen on the far left, with its later ‘toy-castle’ entrance. The Balfours extended the castle to the east and built the round tower at that end in the 17th century, and since then it has been much expanded to the north, with a late-20th century circular ballroom, the latest addition.

FC21. Hallyards Castle is 1km north-west of Auchtertool, a village 7½km west of Kirkcaldy. Reputed to have been a hunting seat of Malcolm Canmore, and later a residence of Bishops of Dunkeld it came into lay hands in 1539. The ruins to be seen now are of a castle built and perhaps added to in the 16th and 17th centuries. Amongst its owners in that period were the Kirkcaldys of Grange, and after 1628, an Andrew Skene, who made it his main residence, and may well have remodelled the building. It was acquired by the 6th Earl of Moray, of the 5th and last creation, in 1715 and at this time the castle’s name was changed to ‘Camilla’, supposedly in a tribute to a countess with that name, though the lady in question has not been identified. The Earls of Moray did not live there, and Hallyards Castle fell into disuse, so that by 1819 it was described as dilapidated, and it was largely demolished in 1847. The photograph, taken from some distance to the east, shows that it is now just a group of fragments of walls, spread over quite a wide rectangular area. The main building to the south (left) seems to have had a vaulted ground floor, with 2 or 3 storeys above, no doubt containing a hall and private rooms for the owner’s family. There is evidence of a courtyard or barmkin.

FC22. Kellie Castle is just north of the B9171, 5½km north-west of Anstruther. The estate is recorded in 1150, and by the middle of the next century it had passed to the Northumbrian Siward family, and from them, a century later to the Oliphants, who built in c1360 the first structure which still survives, a small tower, on the north-west of the present building. The Oliphants held the castle for 250 years during which they built it into the present T-shaped configuration, by adding towers to the east and south of the original tower, together with connecting ranges, mainly in the 16th century. No doubt the cost of the building work contributed to the financial difficulties which caused the house to be sold in1617, to Thomas Erskine, later Earl of Kellie. The castle passed to the lead branch of the Erskine family, the Earls of Mar in 1829, and was deserted until it was leased in 1878 to the father of Sir Robert Lorimer, the famous architect who carried through an extended restoration programme. In 1970 the castle was sold to the National Trust for Scotland. The upper photograph was taken from the south-east, the lower from the south west; the oldest part is to the left on the latter.

FC23. Largo Tower stands to the north of Largo House, on the west side of the village of Upper Largo, 6km north-east of Leven. The lands of Largo were granted to Andrew Wood, the renowned Scottish admiral, in the late 15th century, with a licence to build a tower or fortalice. He also had a canal, of length c250m constructed so that he could be rowed to the local church, and some of its course can still be followed on the ground. However, the surviving tower was built c100 years later and formed part of a more extensive building, a rectangular main block lying east/west, with the said tower at the south-west corner, probably 1 of 4. A remnant of the southern wall extends east from the tower for 19m. The tower is of rubble, harled, and has an external diameter of 5m, with walls c1m thick on the ground floor; it still stands to a height of four storeys with a single chamber on each floor. The fortified house was pulled down in 1750, making way for a nearby mansion, also now ruined, but the tower was retained as a folly. It was difficult to obtain a useful photograph without encroaching on private land, so I have used one taken from the internet, though unfortunately it is labelled un-historically.

FC24. Lochore Castle was built on an east-bank peninsula of Loch Ore, 12½km north-west of Kirkcaldy; the ruin is at the entrance to Lochore Meadows Country Park. The first castle on the site was a motte and bailey built by Sir Duncan de Lochore in 1160; the property passed by marriage to Adam de Valance before the end of the 13th century, and he rebuilt the castle with a tower on the motte, surrounded by a barmkin, and renamed it Inchgall Castle. The castle is not known to have seen action but passed through a number of hands before being bought by a local family of Malcolms in 1656, who changed the name of the castle to ‘Lochore’ but chose to build a new mansion, now also ruined, rather than living there. Its decline began then, and a 19th century owner partially drained the loch so that the castle no longer sits on its bank. The 4-storey tower was 10.6m square with walls 2.7m thick; unusually the basement was not vaulted, but with hall above, and private rooms in the upper storeys, the internal arrangements were conventional. There are traces of domestic buildings in the barmkin which was surrounded by a 1m thick wall with mural towers and a gateway to the east. Remains of the tower and the barmkin wall can be seen in the photograph taken from the north.

FC25. Lordscairnie Castle is at an isolated private location, 4½km north-west of Cupar, with only a few cottages on a minor road near to it. At one time the site is thought to have been partly surrounded by a loch, and the first defensive arrangements were probably a moat and stockade, with the former remaining when the stone castle was built, to enclose the barmkin. The Lindsay family obtained the site in the early-14th century, but the castle was probably built in the late 15th century by a family member who much later became 7th Earl of Crawford. The family retained it, but ceased to live there in the 17th century, although the castle was still weather- proof at the end of that century when services were given by an Episcopal preacher. The 3-storey main block was of dimensions, 16.3 X 10.1m, with walls 1.7m thick with a stair turret in the northern corner. The layout was conventional, with a hall above a kitchen and store-rooms, and bedrooms in the top storey. The round tower is a survival from a barmkin wall which has otherwise disappeared. The photograph is a view from the north-east.

FC26. MacDuff's Castle is on the coast, 9km north-east of Kirkcaldy. The site is traditionally associated with 'Macduff, Thane of Fife' of the 11th century, but the first castle about which anything is known was a late-13th century stone courtyard fortress, founded by Michael Wemyss. After he joined Robert the Bruce, King Edward I, who had stayed there previously, ordered the Earl of Pembroke to burn the castle in 1306. Rebuilt in the mid- 14th century by Sir John Wemyss, he added a north-western gatehouse to the quadrangular court. After 1530, new owners, the Colvilles, remodelled the castle. Converting the old gateway into a north-west tower, they built a matching south-west 4- storey tower, with a new gatehouse range in-between. In the late 16th or early 17th century, an outer court surrounded by a wall with angle turrets and pierced with gun-ports was created on the three landward sides, and domestic buildings were erected within it. The castle was sold back to the Wemyss family in 1651, but they deserted it within a few decades, so it has decayed from the late 17th century; only the south-west tower, and outside it, the west wall and its southern angle tower, remain, though the north-west tower was only pulled down for safety reasons in 1967. The photograph is a view from the beach to the south.

FC27. Menstrie Castle is a fortified house on the southern side of the village of the same name, 6km north-west of Alloa. It was built in c1560 by the Alexander family who acquired the title, Earl of Stirling. Menstrie Castle was burned by the Marquis of Montrose in 1645, but rebuilt. The castle was bought by the Abercrombie family in 1719, and the famous general, Sir Ralph was born there. In the following centuries the building gradually declined but in 1963 it was restored. The castle was originally an L-shaped fortalice, with a main west block of 3 storeys, but later the south wing was extended, another (north) wing was added to form a U-plan, and a curtain wall was erected to the east, thus enclosing quite a large courtyard. Only the west and south wings of the original house now remain. The gables are crow-stepped and an angle-turret with gun-loops crowns the south-west corner. The photograph is taken from the south-west, so the main block is to the left.

FC28. Monimail Castle, more accurately referred to as a tower, is just south-west of the hamlet of Letham, and 1½km north-east of the village of Collessie. The first house on the site was built in the early 14th century for William Lamberton, Bishop of St. Andrews, but the estate was first documented in the hands of the bishops, a century earlier. A palace was built in the early 16th century, probably by Archbishop James Beaton; it comprised a quadrangle with 3-storey ranges on the north and west sides, with lower ranges and walls completing the circuit. It was a possession of the church until the Scottish Reformation, and after a short period in the hands of the Balfours, who probably built up the tower, in 1578 according to a date-stone. It passed to the Melville family in the 1590s, and they still own the estate. However, they built a new mansion in 1697, and the palace was allowed to become a ruinous folly, though the tower has been stabilized and restored in recent years. It is a 4-storey building, 6m square, with parapets on top supported on corbels, and with corner bartizans. The upper part can be viewed amongst trees from the old graveyard to the north, as in the photograph.

FC29. Mountquhannie Castle is just over 1km west of the hamlet of Rathillet in north- east Fife, reachable from the A90 by way of a minor road. The tower, on the right in the view from the south-west, was built in the early part of the 16th century; it is associated with the Lumsden family but they were later owners. It may have been built by the Balfours but that is uncertain. The dimensions are 13.2 X 8m, and perhaps the tower had the standard configuration of a sub-divided basement for storage, a hall above, and private rooms in the two topmost storeys. There are striking rounded corner bartizans. In the 1830s a new house was built, a short distance to the south, and the still habitable tower was deliberately wrecked to serve as some kind of folly. The building to the left with the conically roofed south end was built in the 17th century, and is still inhabited. When I visited, it was foggy so the castle could only be seen in outline from the nearby public road, so I have had to obtain a photograph from the internet.

FC30. Newark Castle is on a coastal crag, just west of the East Neuk village of St. Monance. The first castle here may have been built by Sir Alan Durward in the mid- 13th century, and King Alexander III may have lived there as a boy. Nothing is visible of any such building. In the 15th century, a hall house, of dimensions 23.6 X 8.5m, (shaded black in the schematic) was built by the Kinloch family, with a courtyard extending from the house to the top of the sea cliff. The building comprised a hall and a private room (solar), end to end over three spacious vaulted cellars, the latter being most of what now remains. The house passed to the Sandilands family in 1545, and they added two guest rooms above a kitchen to the north, early in the 16th century. On the north-east corner is a drum tower, 8m in diameter, flanking the adjacent north facing gateway, and once surrounded by a ditch. The castle was purchased by General Sir David Leslie, victor of Philiphaugh in 1649, but he was captured at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, and locked up in the Tower of London for 9 years. At the Restoration, he was released, and then raised to the peerage as Lord Newark in 1661. Thereafter he remodelled the apartments, adding another storey, and curvilinear Baroque gables, of which one fragment remains. At various times there were service buildings in the courtyard, and there is a medieval dovecot nearby. The castle was abandoned in the 19th century, since then, there has been considerable erosion. The photograph is a view from the west.

FC31. Pitcruvie Castle is in a farm steading 6km north-east of Leven, just north of Keil’s Den, a Woodland Trust property open to the public. The castle was built in the late 15th century by the 4th Lord Lindsay of the Byres. It was of dimensions 12 X 8m with walls1.8m thick; at different times 2 different stair turrets seem to have been built but neither is extant. The layout comprised a vaulted cellar and the kitchen in the basement, with a vaulted hall above. The height and the configuration of rooms above are unknown, because of the state of the ruin. The Lindsays sold the castle in the 17th century, and little seems to be known of its history thereafter, but old prints from the 19th century show it much ruined, so it seems likely that it ceased to be inhabited early in the 18th century. The photograph is a view from the south.

FC32. Pittarthie Castle is on a hilltop surrounded by cultivated fields, some distance from any public road; it is 8km north-west of Anstruther. It is best described as a laird’s fortified house, built to an L- plan, though it would have been an impressive example of the genre, and had many defensive features like shot holes and gun-loops. It was built by a family called Monypenny in c1580, but curiously, they held it for less than two decades, though they remained influential in the area. Thereafter, it changed hands fairly regularly and survived intact into the late-19th century, but judging by the state of the ruin, it was probably deserted at that time. The photograph is a view from the south-east and shows the main block to the right, the kitchen wing to the left, with a stair-block in the re-entrant angle. The main block of dimensions 10.8 X 6m, and with lower walls 1.2m thick contained the hall with vaulted basements below, and bedrooms above, augmented by rooms above the kitchen in the wing. (For comparison, a good-sized modern living room might have dimensions 7 X 4.5m).

FC33. Pitteadie Castle is on private land but can be seen from minor roads south of the B9157, and is 4km south-west of the centre of Kirkcaldy. The castle is thought to date to the late 15th century, and is associated then with a family called Vallance. From the beginning of the 17th century it had a succession of owners, none of great note, and it seems to have been remodelled in the later years of that century, possibly by an owner called Calderwood. It remained occupied until the 19th century, when after a period as a farm store, it fell into decay, becoming the roofless ruin shown in the photograph, which is a view from the south. As built it was a rectangular block of dimensions 10 X 8.2m, with a vaulted store on the lowest floor, a hall above, private rooms above that and an attic at the top. The rectangular stair turret in the north-east corner is thought to have been added in the 17th century, when other modifications were also made, including most likely, to the windows.

FC34. Ravenscraig Castle is on a cliff-top in a coastal park on the west side of Kirkcaldy. James II began building the castle in 1460, for his queen, Mary of Guelders. He was killed a year later, by an exploding cannon, but work continued until her death in 1463 when it ceased, and the castle passed unfinished in 1470 to William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney; the configuration was as in the ‘castlesfortsbattles’ schematic. There are suggestions that the King had conceived the castle as a coastal fort of the type built in the next century by King Henry VIII, a thesis supported by the thickness of the walls, 4.2m, but otherwise disputed. At any rate, the new owner converted the West Tower into his main residence, with a standard Tower House configuration; the Great Hall was on the 2nd floor and accommodation in the upper 2 storeys. The castle saw no action during the 15th or 16th centuries but was captured and severely damaged in 1651 by Oliver Cromwell. Ravenscraig Castle was eventually returned to the Sinclairs but was never even partially restored, and decayed into the present ruin. In 1929 the site was gifted to Kirkcaldy for conversion into a public park. The photograph, taken from the south-east shows the castle against the incongruous background of high-rise flats in Kirkcaldy.

FC35. Rosyth Castle is within the dockyard of that name, 5km south of Dunfermline. The castle, which comprised a 5-storey tower within a barmkin, was built by Sir David Stewart in c1450, at which time it was on a small island, and reachable by way of a causeway. It was occupied by Oliver Cromwell, and damaged at that time, but the Stewart family retained it until later in the century, when it was sold. It ceased to be occupied in the 18th century, after which there was quarrying, especially of the buildings in the barmkin. In 1903, it became part of the Admiralty dock area and land reclamation meant it was no longer on an island. Although behind the security gates of the dockyard it is easily viewed, as in the photograph taken from the south. The tower has dimensions, 14.2 X 12.4m and walls 2.8m thick. The hall is on the 3rd floor with storage and servant’s quarters below, and bedrooms above. There was also a hall in the north range of the barmkin.

FC36. Sauchie Tower is 1km north of the village of that name now absorbed into the north of Alloa. It was built by Sir James Shaw in the 1430s, and held without alarms by that family until 1752 when it passed to the Cathcart family. However at around that time it was gutted by fire and was not repaired nor has it since been occupied, though in recent years there have been proposals for its full restoration. Now owned by a local trust it has been re-roofed. The tower has dimensions, 11.6 X 10.4m; the hall is at 3rd floor level with storage and servant’s accommodation below and the laird’s bedroom above. The turret seen in the view from the north caps the spiral staircase in the wall, and there are bartizans at each corner. There was a barmkin, containing at least one range of domestic buildings.

FC37. Scotstarvit Tower is on the Hill of Tarvit, 3km south of Cupar, largely surrounded by trees, some distance above the right bank of the River Eden. It was built in c1500 by a family called Inglis. It is an austere ill-lit building, L-shaped in plan, with the small wing housing a spiral stair; the photograph is a view from the north-east. The main block, of dimensions 10.2 X 8.2m, is aligned north- east/south-west and is 6 storeys high, including an attic within a parapet walk; 2 of the storeys are vaulted. The Hall was on the 3rd floor with bedrooms above. The tower was considerably altered by its owner in the 1st half of the 17th century, Sir John Scott, a prominent lawyer, and author of a satirical work, ‘The Staggering State of Scots Statesmen for 100 Years viz. 1550 – 1650’; perhaps understandably the monograph was not published until long after his death. The estate passed in 1696 to the Wemyss family, who soon built a much more comfortable mansion to the east of the tower, Wemyss Hall. The tower ceased to be occupied in the early 18th century, but has been preserved in reasonable condition, as it still is, inside and outside. It is now in the hands of the National Trust for Scotland.

FC38. Seafield Castle is unusually situated on rocks beside the sea at the southern limits of Kirkcaldy, below a modern housing estate. The tower was built by a family called Moultray in the early 16th century, and occupied by them until the 17th century, when it passed into the hands of James Law, Archbishop of Glasgow, and from him to the Earl of Melville. It was deserted in the early 18th century, after which time it decayed to the present incomplete shell. As built it was L-shaped, and had 5 storeys; the main block was rectangular, of dimensions 9.2 X 7.7m, and with walls 1.5m thick. The layout was conventional with a vaulted basement, with a sleeping mezzanine below its roof, a hall above, and private rooms above that. There was a courtyard to the west which housed ancillary buildings, including a kitchen, and there are traces of a surrounding barmkin wall, 1.2m thick. The location is puzzling for a building which was presumably intended to be defensible as it is completely overlooked inland. The photograph was taken from the west.

FC39. St. Andrews Castle is set on a low cliff, near the centre of the town. Its history began in the late 12th century when it was built by the Bishops of St. Andrews, but it went through the common sequence during the Scottish Wars of Independence, of destruction by the Scots followed by English rebuilding. Eventually, the bishops themselves were able to rebuild it and live there in the late 14th century. In 1546, Cardinal David Beaton was murdered there, by a party of Protestants; ironically they entered by mingling with workmen building the blockhouses indicated in the schematic, and managed to hold the castle for a year. The Reformation saw the castle flip-flopping between Royal control, and Episcopalian bishops, but by 1654 it was in ruins; it is now in state hands. It was an enclosure castle with mural towers and a strong gatehouse distributed round the walls which enclosed a pentagonal courtyard. The east range contained the hall and abutted the kitchen tower; that to the north contained a brew-house and other services. The ranges around the gatehouse contained luxury accommodation for the bishops, but the gate itself was well protected with a drawbridge, and gun-ports. The photograph is taken from the south.

FC40. Struthers Castle is in a farm steading 5 km south of Cupar, and is visible to the south-west of the A916. The castle is important historically because of its ownership by the Keiths, and then the Lindsays of the Byres who became Earls of Lindsay, and of Crawford; the castle changed hands in 1392 as part of a swop involving also Dunnottar Castle. There was thus a castle here as early as the 14th century, but it was destroyed at an unknown date, and the ruins shown in the photograph probably date mainly from the 16th century. They are hard to interpret, even by experts in such matters, but may be the remains of an L-shaped tower house, with walls 1.5m thick, in a courtyard with ancillary buildings though there is no sign of a defensive wall or barmkin. King Charles II stayed there in 1651, and it was later occupied by Cromwellian forces. The castle ceased to be occupied in the early 19th century, and the scanty nature of the ruins suggests that it was quarried.

FC41. Tulliallan Castle, often prefixed by ‘Old’ to distinguish it from a nearby mansion built for Admiral Keith in 1820, is 1½km north of Kincardine, and the bridges crossing the Firth of Forth there. The moated, fortified house was erected in c1300, granted to the Douglases in the early-14th century, given to the Edmonstones, a century later, and from them passed by marriage to the Blackadders in the late 15th century. It was in the hands of a member of the Bruce clan when it was deserted in 1660. The internal dimensions of the main block were 18 X 5.5m inside walls 1.3m thick. Conventionally, the hall occupied the 1st floor and there were also private rooms on the 2nd floor, but unusually the lowest floor also contained furnished rooms rather than being used for storage. In the 15th century, a wing was added to the north east which contained a prison. The house was protected by a curtain wall of which fragments survive as well as the moat, ant there were doubtless ancillary service buildings in the space inside. The photograph is a view from the south-east.

FC42. Wemyss Castle is strikingly situated on a clifftop, between West Wemyss and East Wemyss, 5½km north- east of Kirkcaldy. Lands around the castle site had belonged to the Wemyss family for most of the preceding 2 centuries, when in 1421 a small rectangular tower house, of internal dimensions 7 X 4.5m was built, with the conventional vaulted cellar below a hall, and presumably with private rooms above though this is not certain because the upper storeys were rebuilt in c1600. A curtain wall survives which extends from the tower north-east to a smaller round tower and then to the clifftop, and it would be surprising if there was not an extension of the wall in the other direction to enclose the courtyard, but other developments are where it would have been. The story thereafter is of continued possession by the family up to the present, with occasional hiccups, as around the time of the Jacobite Rebellions, and continued expansion of the buildings. First, the courtyard was filled with buildings including a new hall range, a large new block to the south was added to the south in 1670, and it was expanded westwards in the 19th century. The tower, with its castellations gone, is now more or less lost in a spread of modernised buildings, so that only the site is castle-like as viewed from the beach in the photograph taken from the south. The castle was the location of the first meetings between Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry Darnley in the 1560s, before their marriage, and it was the birthplace in 1864 of Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, First Sea Lord from 1917 to 1919, who signed the Armistice that ended the 1st World War for Great Britain. There is a ruined building at beach level to the west of the castle, associated with a chapel, which has been called Western Wemyss Castle, but the description is dubious.