Balmanno Castle

Last updated

Balmanno Castle
United Kingdom
Balmanno Castle (3636176895).jpg
Balmanno Castle
Coordinates 56°19′29″N3°23′06″W / 56.3247°N 3.3850°W / 56.3247; -3.3850
Site information
ConditionGood
Site history
Builtbetween 1570 and 1580
MaterialsStone
Balmanno Castle - geograph.org.uk - 111598.jpg

Balmanno Castle is a moated tower house located in Dron, Perth and Kinross. It was built between 1570 and 1580. It is now modernised and is in good condition. The moat is still partially filled with water. It was built for George Auchinleck, after he had acquired the estate. [1] [2] The house is a Category A listed building [3] and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. [4]

Contents

History

The castle was built as an L-plan tower house in c.1570 for George Auchinleck.

The celebrated Scots architect Sir Robert Lorimer undertook a major restoration in 1915 [5] for William Millar, a Glasgow ship-owner, as his summer residence. Lorimer's work was of immense quality and undertaken with great care. Externally he added extra wings to form a courtyard. Lorimer allowed himself to dabble in the Gothic, while incorporating internal details from Holyrood Palace whose restoration was the work of Sir William Bruce (1630 - 1710). Lorimer also furnished the house in every detail, using items he had commissioned as well as commercial pieces purchased around the country. He added a courtyard and expensive furniture to the house. [6] Balmanno was sold after the second world war. [2] Hon. James Michael Edward Bruce CBE and his wife, Jean Coats, lived in this house from the 1950s; their family continue to live in this house. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drum Castle</span> Tower house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Drum Castle is a castle near Drumoak in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. For centuries it was the seat of the chief of Clan Irvine. The place-name Drum is derived from Gaelic druim, 'ridge'. The site is located approximately 6+12 miles northeast of Banchory and 3 miles west of Peterculter. The property is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland and is open to the public.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lochleven Castle</span> Castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland

Lochleven Castle is a ruined castle on an island in Loch Leven, in the Perth and Kinross local authority area of Scotland. Possibly built around 1300, the castle was the site of military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1357). In the latter part of the 14th century, the castle was granted to William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, by his uncle. It remained in the Douglases' hands for the next 300 years. Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned there in 1567–68, and forced to abdicate as queen, before escaping with the help of her gaoler's family. In 1588, the queen's gaoler inherited the title of Earl of Morton, and moved away from the castle. In 1675, Sir William Bruce, an architect, bought the castle and used it as a focal point for his garden; it was never again used as a residence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Methven Castle</span>

Methven Castle is a privately owned 17th-century house situated east of Methven, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dunrobin Castle</span> Castle in the north of Scotland

Dunrobin Castle is a stately home in Sutherland, in the Highland area of Scotland, as well as the family seat of the Earl of Sutherland, Chief of the Clan Sutherland. It is located one mile north of Golspie and approximately five miles south of Brora, overlooking the Dornoch Firth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Lorimer</span> Scottish architect (1864–1929)

Sir Robert Stodart Lorimer, KBE was a prolific Scottish architect and furniture designer noted for his sensitive restorations of historic houses and castles, for new work in Scots Baronial and Gothic Revival styles, and for promotion of the Arts and Crafts movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Floors Castle</span> Estate house in Scottish Borders, Scotland

Floors Castle, in Roxburghshire, south-east Scotland, is the seat of the Duke of Roxburghe. Despite its name it is an estate house rather than a fortress. It was built in the 1720s by the architect William Adam for Duke John, possibly incorporating an earlier tower house. In the 19th century it was embellished with turrets and battlements, designed by William Playfair, for The 6th Duke of Roxburghe. Floors has the common 18th-century layout of a main block with two symmetrical service wings. Floors Castle stands by the bank of the River Tweed and overlooks the Cheviot Hills to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elcho Castle</span> Castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, UK

Elcho Castle is located close to the south bank of the River Tay approximately four miles south-east of Perth, Scotland, in the region of Perth and Kinross. It was maintained by Clan Wemyss from its construction around 1560 until it was put into the care of the Secretary of State for Scotland in the early 20th century, though was not occupied for the entire time. In around 1830 it was re-roofed and a nearby cottage constructed. The castle has been a scheduled monument since 1920 on the grounds of being "a particularly fine example of a Medieval tower-house", and the cottage became a listed building in 1971 in recognition of its national importance. The castle is unusual in that it has both en suite guest accommodation like a mansion, but also a large number of gun loops.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Bruce (architect)</span> Scottish architect (c. 1630–1710)

Sir William Bruce of Kinross, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish gentleman-architect, "the effective founder of classical architecture in Scotland," as Howard Colvin observes. As a key figure in introducing the Palladian style into Scotland, he has been compared to the pioneering English architects Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren, and to the contemporaneous introducers of French style in English domestic architecture, Hugh May and Sir Roger Pratt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hawthornden Castle</span> Castle in Midlothian, Scotland, UK

Hawthornden Castle is located on the River North Esk in Midlothian, Scotland. The castle lies a mile to the east of Roslin at grid reference NT287637, and is just downstream from Roslin Castle. Hawthornden comprises a 15th-century ruin, with a 17th-century L-plan house attached. The house has been restored and now serves as a writer's retreat. Man-made caves in the rock beneath the castle have been in use for much longer than the castle itself.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Longforgan</span> Human settlement in Scotland

Longforgan is a village and parish in the Carse of Gowrie, in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies 5 miles west of Dundee on the main A90 road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barholm Castle</span>

Barholm Castle is a tower house located 5 miles (8.0 km) south-west of Gatehouse of Fleet, in Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway, Scotland. The tower dates back to the late 15th century, and it was a stronghold of a branch of the MacCulloch family. The present form of the castle dates from rebuilding in the 16th or 17th century, and in the early 2000s it was restored from a roofless state to residential use. The tower is sometimes identified with the fictional Ellangowan, in Sir Walter Scott's Guy Mannering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinross House</span> Building

Kinross House is a late 17th-century country house overlooking Loch Leven, near Kinross in Kinross-shire, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kinfauns Castle</span> Historic site in near Perth, Scotland

Kinfauns Castle is a 19th-century castle in the Scottish village of Kinfauns, Perth and Kinross. It is in the Castellated Gothic style, with a slight asymmetry typical of Scottish Georgian. It stands on a raised terrace facing south over the River Tay. The house is protected as a category A listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdour Castle</span> Castle in Fife, Scotland, UK

Aberdour Castle is in the village of Easter Aberdour, Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle date from around 1200, making Aberdour one of the two oldest datable standing castles in Scotland, along with Castle Sween in Argyll, which was built at around the same time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ardgowan House</span> Historic site

Ardgowan House, Castle & Gardens is a privately owned late 18th-century mansion on the Firth of Clyde near Inverkip, Scotland. Ardgowan is located in Inverclyde, in the former county of Renfrewshire. The Ardgowan Estate has been held by the Stewart family since the early 15th century: towards the end of that century, their tower house Ardgowan Castle was built within the site of the previous Inverkip Castle fortress. The present house was erected in 1797 and completed in 1801 from designs by Cairncross. It is the seat of the Shaw Stewart baronets, currently Sir Ludovic Houston Shaw Stewart, 12th Baronet of Greenock and Blackhall.

Drumkilbo House is a listed stately home and garden near Meigle, Perth and Kinross, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earlshall Castle</span> Building in Fife, Scotland, UK

Earlshall Castle is a restored 16th century courtyard castle, near Leuchars Station about 12 mile east of Leuchars, Fife, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ardkinglas</span> Country house in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

Ardkinglas House is a Category A listed country house on the Ardkinglas Estate in Argyll, Scotland. The estate lies on the eastern shore of Loch Fyne, and the house is located close to the village of Cairndow. Dating back to the 14th century and originally a Campbell property, the estate now covers more than 12,000 acres (4,900 ha) of rolling hills and landscaped parkland. The centre of the estate was Ardkinglas Castle until this was replaced by a new house in the 18th century. This house was itself replaced by the present Ardkinglas House in the early 20th century, designed by Sir Robert Lorimer for Sir Andrew Noble. It remains the property of the Noble family, and is open to the public on a limited basis. The woodland gardens are open all year round.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dowhill Castle</span> Ruined castle in Scotland

Dowhill Castle is a ruined castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Sited on a hill near Loch Leven, the oldest part of the castle was built in around 1500 as a tower house. The main structure was extended in around 1600 with additional living space, as well as a tower and turret. The castle had a fortified courtyard (barmkin) to the north with a separate tower. There were probably four storeys but only two still survive.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John's Kirk</span> Church in Scotland

St John's Kirk is a church in the Scottish city of Perth, Perth and Kinross. Of Church of Scotland denomination, it is located in St John's Place, just southeast of the city centre. It stands on the former site of a church dating to 1126. Today's structure, built around 1448, is a Category A listed building. The church is most noted for being the site of John Knox's 1559 sermon against idolatry, which began the Scottish Reformation.

References

  1. "Balmanno Castle". canmore.org.
  2. 1 2 "Balmanno Castle". scottish-places.info.
  3. Historic Environment Scotland. "BALMANNO CASTLE INCLUDING GARDEN HOUSE OUTBUILDING AND GATEHOUSE. (Category A Listed Building) (LB5422)" . Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  4. Historic Environment Scotland. "BALMANNO (GDL00044)" . Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  5. Dictionary of Scottish Architects: Robert Lorimer
  6. "Balmanno Castle from The Gazetteer for Scotland". www.scottish-places.info.
  7. "Balmanno Castle". The Courier. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.