Pitfour Castle is an 18th-century country house situated on the southeast edge of the village of St Madoes in the Carse of Gowrie, Perthshire, Scotland. [1] It is a Category A listed building. [2] Pitfour Castle is a private residence and access to the grounds is not available to the public.
A tower house was formerly sited slightly closer to the River Tay, although nothing now remains. [3] In June 1592 Harry Lindsay and 40 armed followers attacked the "Place of Pitfour" at night. They hid themselves close to the house and sent a messenger boy to get the yard gates or "yetts" opened. The trick worked but David Cochrane's defenders beat them back and closed the gates. Lindsay's men then managed to break into the castle, and forced the family and their retainers out, and put in his own men under his servant John Tweedy. [4]
The present Pitfour Castle was built for John Richardson (1760–1821), a wealthy local man involved with the salmon fisheries of the Tay, around 1784. [5] The design of the new house is attributed to the architect Robert Adam (1728–1792): although there is no documentary evidence for his involvement, [6] there are stylistic similarities with Adam's later "castle-style" homes, such as Dalquharran Castle in Ayrshire (1786) and Seton Castle in Lothian (1789). [2] In 1825, the house was enlarged to designs by William Burn, with a library to the north-west and a clock tower to the south-west. [2]
By the 1860s the house was occupied and owned by Sir John Stewart-Richardson (who had adopted the additional name of Stewart on inheritance of his grandfather, James Stewart's, Urrard estate [7] ) together with his family. [8]
Having fallen into disrepair, restoration work on Pitfour Castle began in 1964. In 1966, Burn's entrance hall was removed, revealing Adam's original entrance front. [2] [9] The house and 12 acres (4.9 ha) was advertised for sale in 1967 for £25,000. [10] In July 1969, as restoration was nearing completion, the east wing was badly damaged by fire. [2]
In 1974 it was purchased by Lord Leslie Charles Field who at the time owned Walton Hall, Warwickshire. The Castle was rescued from demolition and restored back to its former glory to be used by the family of Lord Field for holidays. At the end of the 70’s the castle was subdivided into individual apartments and sold. The stable block has also been converted into a series of two storey dwelling houses, which along with the lodge house, are also privately owned. Some of the apartments are available to rent on short-assured tenancy agreements.
The curved staircase forms the centrepiece of the house. In the 1967 sale particulars, this was described as a "fine circular wrought iron staircase rising through the house to a cupola with painted cartoons by Ritchie". [10] Historic Scotland refers to these cartoons as "figure panels by Zucchi", [2] an Italian who worked with Robert Adam. Prior to its subdivision, the house had 12 principal bedrooms, four bathrooms, five reception rooms and staff accommodation. [10]
Perthshire, officially the County of Perth, is a historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south; it borders the counties of Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire to the north, Angus to the east, Fife, Kinross-shire, Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire and Dunbartonshire to the south and Argyllshire to the west. It was a local government county from 1890 to 1930.
The Carse of Gowrie is a stretch of low-lying country in the southern part of Gowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It stretches for about 20 miles along the north shore of the Firth of Tay between Perth and Dundee. The area offers high-quality agricultural land and is well known as a major area for strawberry, raspberry and general fruit growing. Fruit is easy to cultivate in the area because of its southerly aspect and low rainfall. It has been suggested that monks brought new varieties of apples and pears to the area in the Middle Ages and there may have been vineyards growing on slopes near the River Tay.
Kilchurn Castle is a ruined structure on a rocky peninsula at the northeastern end of Loch Awe, in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It was first constructed in the mid-15th century as the base of the Campbells of Glenorchy, who extended both the castle and their territory in the area over the next 150 years. After the Campbells became Earls of Breadalbane and moved to Taymouth Castle, Kilchurn fell out of use and was in ruins by 1770. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland and is open to the public in summer.
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St. Madoes is a village in the Carse of Gowrie, Scotland. It was developed near Pitfour Castle. It is believed that there have been settlements since around 1000 C.E based on discoveries of several standing stones and the St. Madoes stone, a well-preserved Pictish cross.
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Murthly is a village in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It lies on the south bank of the River Tay, 5 miles southeast of Dunkeld, and 9+1⁄2 miles north of Perth. Perth District Asylum, later known as Murthly Hospital, was opened in the village on 1 April 1864 for 'pauper lunatics'. It was the second district asylum to be built in Scotland under the terms of the Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1857. It closed in 1984 and was later demolished. The village has a stone circle, in the former grounds of the hospital. The village formerly had a railway station on the Perth and Dunkeld Railway, which closed in 1965.
Inchyra is a hamlet in the Carse of Gowrie in Scotland. It lies on the northern bank of the River Tay near Perth and is notable particularly for a number of archaeological finds made in the immediate vicinity.
John Douglas of Pinkerton was a Scottish architect who designed and reformed several country houses in the Scottish Lowlands. His work deserves to be noted for what the 2002 history of Scottish architecture remarks as an approach "of relentless surgery or concealment.". His most notable works are Killin and Ardeonaig Church, Stirlingshire (1744); Archerfield House, East Lothian (1745); Finlaystone House, Renfewshire (1746–47), Wardhouse (Gordonhall), Insch, Aberdeenshire (1757); and Campbeltown Town Hall, Argyll and Bute (1758–60). Several of these are listed buildings.
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