Historic Buildings of Kinross-shire, Scotland

Historic Buildings of Kinross-shire

Historic County of Scotland

Now Perth and Kinross

See also Historic Buildings of Perthshire

See Historic Buildings of Britain and Ireland - Main Page

Image right - Tullibole Castle, Kinross-shire, Scotland

If you have information about any of the Buildings mentioned below please share it here. If you have ancestors linked to any of the places please add them to the project.

The object of this project is to provide information about historic buildings in the county of Kinross-shire, with links to sub-projects for specific buildings as appropriate. GENi profiles of people associated with those establishments can be linked to this project and/or to individual projects where they have been set up.

Historic Buildings of Kinross-shire

... in alphabetical order

❊ Indicates an available image in Gallery attached to the project

Including Castles, Abbeys, Manor Houses, Mansions, Stately Homes, Country houses, Estate houses, Courts, Halls, Parks and other listed buildings of historic interest

A

• Aldie Castle ❊ - a fortified house, stands on the northern slopes of a valley in the parish of Fossaway, Kinross-shire. The House of Aldie (pronounced locally as Audie) was probably started sometime in the 15th century, with additions and alterations into the 17th century. The Mercer family owned Aldie for about 600 years but an old story tells of a curse put on the Mercers. Sir James Mercer of Aldie, who was a burgess of Perth in 1643, and was a Gentleman Usher to King Charles II, condemned one of his grooms to be hanged for stealing a bowl of corn. The man was hanged on an old tree and with his dying breath, uttered the curse that the Mercers would have no male heirs for 19 generations. Sir James’ son Charles, godson to the king, was born and died in 1667. His sister Jean became heir to her father in 1672 but died the same year. Her sister Grizell became heir but died unmarried in 1706. Another sister, Helen, then became heir and married a cousin, Sir Laurence Mercer of Melginche. Their son James Mercer, became heir upon his mother’s death in 1720, but died the same year. His sister Jean became heiress and married Robert Murray Nairne. He was killed at the battle of Culloden as Colonel Mercer, having adopted the name. Their son, James Mercer of Aldie, became heir in 1750 but died unmarried in 1758. His brother William became heir in 1759 but he and his wife Margaret had no sons. Their daughter Jane became heir and married George Elphinstone, Viscount Keith, and they had a daughter Margaret Mercer Elphinstone, Baroness Keith and Nairne, who married Auguste Charles Joseph, Conte de Flahaut, and they only had daughters. Their daughter Emily Jane married Henry, the 4th Marquess of Lansdowne, who took the name Mercer Nairne and they had a son, the 5th Marquess of Lansdown, so the curse was finally broken. The Statistical Accounts of Scotland, 1791-99 and 1845, both describe Aldie castle as being unoccupied and in a state of disrepair. After WWII the castle was bought by a Mr Hope Dickson who restored it and made it his home. It was later purchased by Mr David Kinloch. It is not open to the public but can be seen, by looking north across the valley, from the road that runs from Cleish, westward towards Hill End.
• Arnot Tower ❊

B

• Burleigh Castle ❊

C

• Cleish Castle ❊
• Cleish motte ❊

D

• Dowhill Castle ❊

L

• Lochleven Castle ❊

T

• Tullibole Castle ❊ - built in the early 17th century. In the Records of the Parliaments of Scotland in 1372 there is a ratification of a charter of William, Earl of Ross, which mentions “John de Hay, lord of Tullibolle” within a list of landowners. However it isn’t clear if the lord of Tullibole and John de Hay are one and the same. By 1490 Tullibole was in the possession of the Herring (also spelt Hering or Heron) family, with a charter from the year showing James Herring of Glasclune granting the lands of Tullibole to his son James Herring of Cluny. Some time in the 16th century, probably in 1598, Tullibole passed to the Halliday family. The first Halliday owner was a John Halliday, who is thought to have built the majority of the current castle, completing it in 1608. The castle is arranged east to west, and measures around 19.4 metres in that direction by around 8.4 metres north to south. At the east end of the south front is a projecting square tower which contains the main staircase. Above the door is a carved panel with the date 2nd of April 1608, and the arms and initials of John Halliday and his wife Helen Oliphant. The ground floor is divided into three rooms and originally the entrance gave access to the central room via an intramural passageway. However this doorway was later bricked up, and converted into a pantry, and a doorway created into the kitchen at the east end of the building. There is a narrow passageway into the western room, and the same into the kitchen at the east end. A straight staircase within the thickness of the wall at the north-east corner of the central room was the service stair giving access to the main hall above, while a spiral staircase within a turret at the north-west corner gives leads to all the upper floors. The main staircase leads up to the first floor, where the main hall occupies the eastern two-thirds of the building, measuring around 9.9 metres long by around 5.5 metres wide. Behind a thick wall, and accessed via a small lobby, is a private chamber. The lobby, within the thickness of the wall, also leads to the spiral staircase. On the second floor is a garret level. Although the castle was built in one stage at the start of the 17th century, looking at the floor plan, the number of staircases, and the stylistic differences between the west end of the building and the central and eastern section, it’s tempting to speculate that the western end contains the remnants of an earlier keep. However when the harling was stripped off in the late 20th century, there was no join between the western end and the rest of the castle, and it seems that it was intentionally built to look as if it consisted of an older tower to which a newer extension had been grafted on. In 1722 Catherine Halliday, the eldest daughter and heiress of another John Halliday, married the Reverend Archibald Moncreiff, minister of Blackford. Upon her death in 1740, Tulliebole Castle passed into the Moncreiff family and remains with them to this day. Around 1790 the family ran into financial difficulties, and to generate some income stripped off the roof and sold it to the owner of Glendevon Castle. Their luck evidently changed, as by the turn of the century the castle was roofed once again, and a dormer carved with the date 1801 commemorates this. Henry James Moncreiff, 2nd Baron Moncreiff (1840-1909) lived in the Castle. In the 20th century Harry Moncreiff, the 5th Baron Moncreiff of Tulliebole removed some of the Victorian alterations that had been made to the castle, and reinstated some of the older features. It is currently occupied by Rhoderick Moncreiff, Harry’s son and the 6th Baron Moncreiff, and his wife Alison, who run it as a bed and breakfast.

References and Sources

Kinross-shire Specific

General

• http://www.stravaiging.com/history/castles/county/#sthash.ztfuzTb5....
• http://www.secretscotland.org.uk/index.php/Main/HomePage
• http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk
• http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/
• http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/
• http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_country_houses_in_the_United_K...
• http://www.britainsfinest.co.uk/historichouses/
• http://www.britainexpress.com/Where_to_go_in_Britain/historic_house...
• http://www.landmarktrust.org.uk/
• Historic Houses Association - represents 1,500 houses in the UK
• Hudson's Historic Houses and Gardens - UK - guidebook of over 2,000 houses open to the public
• The DiCamillo Companion to British & Irish Country Houses - database of over 7,000 houses
• Lost Heritage - A Memorial to the Lost Country Houses of England - list of over 1,700 houses
• National Trust for Historic Preservation - online database of historic houses in the United State
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historic_Houses_Association - http://www.hha.org.uk/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treasure_Houses_of_England

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