Aberdour Castle is located 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.

The earliest part of the castle comprised a modest hall house, on a site overlooking the Dour Burn. Over the next 400 years, the castle was successively expanded according to contemporary architectural ideas. The hall house became a tower house in the 15th century, and was extended twice in the 16th century. The final addition was made around 1635, with refined Renaissance details, and the whole was complemented by a walled garden to the east and terraced gardens to the south. The terraces, dating from the mid-16th century, form one of the oldest gardens in Scotland, and offer extensive views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh.

The castle is largely the creation of the Douglas Earls of Morton, who held Aberdour from the 14th century. The earls used Aberdour as a second home until 1642, when their primary residence, Dalkeith House, was sold. A fire in the late 17th century was followed by some repairs, but in 1725 the family purchased nearby Aberdour House, and the medieval castle was allowed to fall into decay. Today, only the 17th-century wing remains roofed, while the tower has mostly collapsed. Aberdour Castle is now in the care of Historic Scotland, and is open to the public all year.

The castle originally comprised the 12th- or 13th-century hall house, which was extended in the 15th century. In the 16th century the central range was built to the south of the tower house, and new inner and outer courtyard walls were constructed. The east part of the inner courtyard wall is reduced to foundations, but the base of a round tower and a porter's lodge survive. To the west, the inner courtyard wall remains, enclosing the former service courtyard, which comprises a brewery and bakehouse, with ovens. The east range was added in the 17th century, along the south edge of the outer courtyard. The castle was originally approached from the north, with the entrance moved to the west, along with the 17th-century gate, when the Aberdour railway line was constructed in 1890.

Aberdour Castle

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Rossend Castle is a historic building in Burntisland, a town on the south coast of Fife, Scotland.

A keep, known as the Tower of Kingorne Wester, was in existence on the site from 1119. It was later referred to as Burntisland Castle, and by 1382 was called Abbot's Hall, as it was the home of the Abbot of Dunfermline. The present building is largely of the 16th century, though with a 13th-century basement, which contains lancet windows and may represent the remains of a chapel. It was rebuilt by Peter Durie of Durie from 1552, and the arms of Abbot George Durie, and the date 1554, appear over the main door.[1] Mary, Queen of Scots, visited during her short personal reign (1561–1567). On 14 February 1562, the French messenger and poet Chastelard was discovered hiding under Mary's bed in the castle. In 1651 it was captured by the soldiers of Oliver Cromwell, and in the later 17th century it was owned by the Wemyss family, who remodelled the top floor.

By 1765, it was owned by Murdoch Campbell, a Highlander from Skye, who probably gave the building its current name.

In 1915 Thomas Ross was arrested whilst studying the castle, for sketching in a prohibited area, and fined five shillings.

The castle was acquired by the Town Council in 1952. In 1957, an early 17th-century painted timber ceiling was discovered; it is now in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. The ceiling includes the initials 'SRM' for 'Sir Robert Melville of Murdocairney' and emblems copied from the Devises Heroïques of Claude Paradin. The council threatened to demolish the property, which had been allowed to deteriorate, but it was saved after a public inquiry in 1972. It was bought in 1975 by the architecture firm Robert Hurd & Partners, who restored it and retain the building as their offices. It is a category B listed building.

Rossend Castle

Fordell Castle is a restored 16th-century tower house, located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north-west of Dalgety Bay and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Dunfermline, in Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle date from before 1566, though most dates from 1580 and later. The chapel was rebuilt in 1650. The interior of the castle was substantially renovated in the 1960s, with additional major renovations to the castle interiors and chapel in the early 2000s. The estate is in private ownership and not available for public tour.

The castle is a fortified house (fortalice) designed on a Z-plan running east-west, with square towers at the north-west and south-east corners, each containing a circular staircase. “Externally, Fordell remains pretty much as it was when first built, a simply treated, dignified dwelling, on which corbelled turetts and projections, happily grouped, relieve the plane wall-surfaces below.” Fordell Castle is the only example of a tower house with two main stairs, each with its own door to the outside. The entrance is at the foot of the north stair tower and is through a studded door with a metal grate (yett) behind. It gives access to a vestibule. Stairs lead down to three vaulted basement chambers. The western chamber included stocks and branks, but the room has since been converted to a wine cellar. A rogue’s collar or jougs hangs near the front entrance to the castle.

The first floor contains the Great Hall to the west; the great stone fireplace has a cast iron grate and stone surround, over which is the Henderson coat-of-arms with the motto ‘Sola Nobilitat Veritus’. A “witch stone” carving above the entrance to the Great Hall is said to depict the Barron Henderson’s sister, Lady Margaret Pittadro, who was accused of witchcraft and imprisoned in 1649. Prior to being tried, she was found dead, apparently from poison.

There is a smaller withdrawing room to the east of the Great Room. The paneled ceiling has star and half moon mouldings, reflecting motifs in the Henderson coat of arms. Reclaimed timber from Edinburgh Castle and reclaimed Italian Carrera tiles floors were added in recent renovations.

At gallery level is the main private apartment, which has a paneled ceiling with star and half moon moulding. Off this room is a modern bathroom. Also at this level is the Laird’s Study, with a stone fireplace and access to the second spiral stair. Above the main stair head is a chamber known as Queen Mary’s Room; it is vaulted and paneled, and has a stone fireplace.

A small area of flat roof is castellated, and has a flagpole and wrought-iron beacon basket. The lintel of the door in the north tower is inscribed I.H (for James Henderson) 25 MCH (March) A.D. 1580. Higher is built in a broken lintel, also inscribed I.H. with I.M. for Henderson’s wife, Jean Murray of Tullibardine, dated 1580. There is a heraldic panel above with the arms of Henderson and Murray dated 1567.

Considered one of the finest details of the castle is the lead gargoyle at the eaves, seen in the north-east view. It “represents a winged four-footed monster, with open mouth and defiant attitude, designed and executed with great spirit.”

The earliest charter in the Henderson of Fordell papers dates from 1217, when Richard, son of Hugh de Camera, with consent of his wife and son, (also) Richard, grants small parts of the lands of Fordell to the Abbey of Inchcolm.

By 1240, William de Hercht held the lands of Fordell. Sir William de Erth was the Lord of Fordell in 1428. The Fordell lands were divided into fractional portions following William de Erth’s death. John Henrisoun was serving as sergeant of Fordell by 1465.

In 1510-1512, James (M. Jacobo) Henrysoun (Henderson) and his wife, Elene (née Baty), redeemed from mortgage his inherited fractional portion of the Fordell estate and purchased fractional parts of the lands of Fordell (Fordalis) from at least five others. The land was consolidated into a barony granted by King James IV in 1511.

The Hendersons became baronets in 1694 during the reign of Charles II.

In the 19th century, the family built a large, new mansion – Fordell House – nearby. Fordell House was demolished in the 20th century, and there is now little visible evidence of its existence.

Between 1726 and 1961, Fordell Castle was rarely occupied. George Mercer-Henderson modernized the castle and installed the gates. The north front was rebuilt in 1855 (designed by Robert Hay).

In 1953, John Hampden Mercer-Henderson, 8th Earl of Buckinghamshire, divided the nearly 2000-acre estate, selling the land to the west of Fordel Burn. The walled garden at Pittadro was sold for use as a commercial nursery.

Author James Henderson CBE (no relation), purchased the estate in 1953. He restored the castle to a good standard and it was inhabited for the first time since 1726.[citation needed] Fordell was acquired in 1961 by the controversial lawyer and Conservative politician Sir Nicholas Fairbairn (1933–1995). The castle was restored and used as a private residence by Sir Nicholas and his wife Lady Sam Fairbairn. Following his death in 1995, Nicholas Fairbairn was laid to rest in the crypt below the Chapel of St Theriot on the castle grounds.

In 1999, the property was sold to local veterinarian Bill Inglis, who died shortly thereafter. The property was purchased by Andrew Berry, a businessman who made extensive, high-quality restorations of the castle, chapel, and grounds. In November 2007, Fordell Castle was sold for £3,850,000 to Stuart Simpson, the 17th Baron of Fordell, making it the fifth-highest-priced home ever sold in Scotland. The Castle remains a private residence, and is a category A listed building.

It is not known when the original castle structure was constructed, but the main entrance tower is believed to date from the 1400s. James Henderson started to extend the castle in 1566.

In 1568 the castle was damaged by fire, then rebuilt. Evidence of the fire can be seen to the left of the main entrance tower.

Mary, Queen of Scots, is said to have stayed here when Marion Scott, one of her ladies-in-waiting, married George Henderson, the laird.

During the late 16th century, the Hendersons began working the estate’s rich coal seams that came to form the basis of the estate economy.

Sir John Henderson rebuilt St Theriot’s Chapel in 1650 for use as a family mausoleum. The castle was damaged by Oliver Cromwell's army troops garrisoned at the castle in 1651.

Fordell Castle

Barnbougle Castle is a much-altered tower house on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth, between Cramond and Queensferry, and within the parish of Dalmeny. It lies within the Earl of Rosebery's estate, just northwest of Dalmeny House. Although its history goes back to the 13th century, the present castle is the result of rebuilding in 1881 by the 5th Earl of Rosebery, who served as Prime Minister from 1894–1895.

The first building at Barnbougle was a thirteenth-century tower house, constructed by the Mowbrays, a Norman family who were also lords of Dalmeny and Inverkeithing. In 1615 the Mowbrays sold Barnbougle to Sir Thomas Hamilton, afterwards Earl of Haddington. It was sold again in 1662, by Sir Thomas' grandson, to Sir Archibald Primrose of Carrington, a senior judge who became Lord Justice General of Scotland in 1676. Sir Archibald's eldest son by his second marriage, also Archibald Primrose, was created Earl of Rosebery in 1703, and Barnbougle became the family seat. At some point during the 17th century, the original tower house was rebuilt or replaced.

In 1774, a plan for rebuilding the castle was drawn up by the architect Robert Adam. This proposal was for a triangular building, with the original tower at its seaward corner, but it was never executed. By the early 19th century, the castle had become dilapidated, and a wave supposedly washed into the dining room during supper.[4] The 4th Earl of Rosebery had Dalmeny House constructed on the estate, and the family moved in on completion in 1817. Barnbougle was used to store explosives, and after being damaged in an accidental explosion, it was subsequently left as a ruin.

In 1881 the castle was entirely reconstructed and extended according to plans by James Maitland Wardrop, of Wardrop & Reid, in the Scots Baronial style. The older fabric of the north side was incorporated into the new building. It was primarily built to house the private library of Archibald, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), who became Prime Minister in 1894. Lord Rosebery practised his speeches here, in a purpose-built gallery hall. Barnbougle remains a part of the Dalmeny Estate, and is still the property of the Rosebery family. It is a category A listed building.

Barnbougle Castle

Pitreavie Castle is a country house, located between Rosyth and Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. It was built in the early 17th century, and was extensively remodelled in 1885. The house remained in private hands until 1938, when it was acquired by the Air Ministry, and became RAF Pitreavie Castle. The RAF station closed in 1996, and the building was converted into residential apartments.

The Pitreavie estate was owned by Lady Christina Bruce, sister of Robert the Bruce, in the 14th century, and by the early 17th century, it was owned by the Kello (or Kellock) family. Henry Wardlaw of Balmule (later Sir Henry Wardlaw, 1st Baronet of Pitreavie) bought the estate in 1608 for 10,000 merks Scottish. Wardlaw was Chamberlain to Queen Anne, wife of James VI of Scotland. When James acceded to the English throne in 1603 and travelled south to London, he left Dunfermline Palace in Wardlaw's care. Henry Wardlaw became a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1631, and died in 1637, succeeded by his eldest son, also Henry. Wardlaw's granddaughter, Elizabeth Wardlaw, was the reputed author of the poem Hardyknute and the ballad Sir Patrick Spens.

Wardlaw began to construct the house in 1615. It was originally built to a U-shaped plan, with a symmetrical layout comprising a rectangular main body about 20 metres (66 ft) long, two short wings projecting to north, and spiral staircases rising up both interior angles. The roof originally had crow steps on the gables and dormer windows, with the only entrance on the inner side of the west wing: a matching door in the east wing led down to a blind cellar. There were only small windows on the ground floor. Pitreavie is considered to be an important example of an early 17th-century symmetrically-planned house, in the style of Sir James Murray, the King's Master of Works, and is similar to his Baberton House of the 1620s. The grounds were planted as a wilderness in the late 17th century, with acres of ash, birch and elm trees.

During the invasion of Scotland by Oliver Cromwell, the Battle of Pitreavie was fought nearby on 20 July 1651, between an English force commanded by Colonel Robert Overton and a Scottish force, including some 800 Highlanders from the Clan Maclean. After the battle, which was a decisive victory for the Cromwellian forces (contemporary reports speak of 2,000 Scots killed and 1,600 captured, all for the loss of 8 of Overton's troops), a group of Macleans sought refuge in the house, but cursed the Wardlaw family when they were refused sanctuary.

Alterations
The house was sold to Archibald Primrose, 1st Earl of Rosebery, in 1703, and then to Sir Robert Blackwood, Lord Dean of Guild, and later Lord Provost, of Edinburgh, in 1711. It remained in the Blackwood family for 170 years, but was unoccupied for almost a century. The castle was bought by Henry Beveridge, a wealthy mill owner, in 1884, when it was extended and modernised. He commissioned the architect Charles Kinnear in 1885 to add an east wing, insert larger windows on the ground floor, and add a portico to the north, leading to a new main entrance. The additions were detailed in a similar Scottish Renaissance style. The grounds were also renovated, with a water garden and a narrow-gauge railway. Two entrance lodges were also built; the East Lodge survives, but the western one was demolished.

RAF Pitreavie Castle
Beveridge died in 1922, and the castle was sold to the Air Ministry in 1938 for £12,306, who added a concrete outbuilding housing kitchens, a bar and a dining room, a bunker, and other outbuildings. The castle was used to coordinate operations of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force Coastal Command. Other buildings added when the castle was the home of RAF Pitreavie Castle have been demolished.

After the Second World War, Pitreavie Castle became the headquarters of the NATO North Atlantic Area, home of the commanders of air forces (No. 18 Group RAF) and of naval forces in the North Atlantic, and the home of the Air Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland (AOSNI). The base closed in 1996, and its role as a maritime rescue co-ordination centre was moved to RAF Kinloss. The castle has now been converted into several apartments with most of the surviving grounds developed as private housing and the Carnegie Campus business park. The castle is now a category A listed building.

Pitreavie Castle

Cramond Tower is a fifteenth-century tower house in the village of Cramond to the north-west of Edinburgh, Scotland.

The area around the Tower has had human settlement since the time of Ancient Rome, and there are relics from that time in the area. The Tower was probably built in the late 15th or early 16th century, primarily as a defensive feature, although it could have been built earlier, and may have been mentioned in 1409. It was at one stage part of the bishop of Dunkeld's summer residence.

It became the property of James Inglis, an Edinburgh merchant, in 1622. He repurposed the tower to make it more comfortable for occupation, adding and enlarging windows and creating internal recesses to increase the available living space. His grandson moved to the nearby Cramond House in 1680, and the tower was abandoned for the next 300 years.

It was portrayed as a romantic ruin by James Skene in 1837, and was in a poor state of preservation by the middle of the twentieth century. In the 1960s, the City of Edinburgh Council put a concrete cap on the roof and cleared the vegetation.

In 1978, it was acquired by Eric Jamieson, an amateur antiquarian. Between 1979 and 1981, it was restored by architects Robert Hurd & Partners into a private residence.

It was damaged by a fire in 2011.

The castle is a nearly square four-storey tower house, around 25 feet (7.6 m) on each side and with walls up to 5 feet (1.5 m) thick. In the south-east corner is a round staircase that protrudes from the building.Currently, the tower has a store at ground level, a living room on the first floor, kitchen on the second, and bedrooms and bathrooms on the third and fourth floors. A pitched roof has been re-erected as part of the restoration. In the 1990s, a stone extension was added on the east side.

It is a category B listed building.

Cramond Tower

Rosyth Castle is a fifteenth-century ruined tower house on the perimeter of Rosyth Naval Dockyard, Fife, Scotland.

It originally stood on a small island in the Firth of Forth accessible only at low tide, and dates from around 1450, built as a secure residence by Sir David Stewart, who had been granted the Barony of Rosyth in 1428.

The original tower house (58 feet high) was enlarged and extended in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

In 1572 it was attacked by men from Blackness Castle on the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and it was occupied in 1651 by Oliver Cromwell's army after the Battle of Inverkeithing.

It remained a Stewart residence until it was sold in the late seventeenth century to David Drummond of Invermay. It ultimately ended up in the possession of the Earl of Hopetoun and from the eighteenth century onward remained unoccupied. During this and later periods large parts of the stonework were re-used in other structures, and the later courtyard buildings were almost razed to the ground, leaving only the tower and north courtyard wall remaining significantly above ground-floor level.

It became Admiralty property in 1903 and as the result of land reclamation lost its waterfront position, becoming marooned within the dockyard. Although plans were made to restore and use the building, they came to nothing and the structure was made safe in its current condition. It passed into private hands when large tracts of the surrounding dockyard were sold.

About half a mile north of the castle is a well-preserved sixteenth-century dovecot, with a crow-stepped gable roof, with carved heads at two corners. Internally it has a barrel vaulted ceiling.

Rosyth Castle

Lauriston Castle is a 16th-century tower house with 19th-century extensions overlooking the Firth of Forth, in Edinburgh, Scotland. It lies on Cramond Road South, between Cramond, Davidson's Mains, and Silverknowes. The substantial grounds, Lauriston Castle Gardens, operate as a local park. The castle was bequeathed to the Edinburgh Corporation (post 1973 known as Edinburgh City Council) and hosts The Lord Provosts annual Garden Party.

A Lauriston Castle stood on this site in medieval times but was almost totally destroyed in the raids on Edinburgh in 1544 by the earl of Hertford.[2]

A tower house was re-built around 1590 by Sir Archibald Napier of Merchiston, father of John Napier, for his younger son, also named Archibald. In 1683, the estate was purchased by Edinburgh goldsmith and financier William Law, father of infamous economist John Law (1671–1729), shortly before his death. John Law then inherited the estate and it stayed in the family until 1823 when sold to banker and mineralogist Thomas Allan. There is no evidence that the Law family ever resided at Lauriston during their 140 years of ownership. In 1827, Allan commissioned William Burn (1789–1870) to extend the house in the Jacobean style. Subsequent owners were the Right Hon. Andrew Lord Rutherfurd (1791–1854), and Thomas Macknight Crawfurd of Cartsburn and Lauriston Castle, 8th Baron of Cartsburn from 1871 to 1902.

On 3 December 1827 Sir Walter Scott wrote in his journal: 'Went with Tom Allan to see his building at Lauriston where he has displayd good taste; supporting instead of tearing down or destroying the old Chateau which once belonged to the famous Mississippi Law. The additions are in very good taste and will make a most comfortable house.

William Robert Reid, proprietor of Morison & Co., an Edinburgh cabinetmaking business, acquired Lauriston Castle in 1902, installed modern plumbing and electricity, and he and his wife Margaret filled the house with a collection of fine furniture and artwork. The Reids, being childless, left their home to Scotland on the condition that it should be preserved unchanged. The City of Edinburgh has administered the house since Mrs Reid's death in 1926, which today offers a glimpse of Edwardian life in a Scottish country house.

In 1905, during one of its numerous refurbishments, a stone carving of an astrological horoscope was installed in the outer wall, on the southwest corner. The horoscope was reputedly done by John Napier for his brother. It can be seen in some pictures on the front wall, beneath the left-most stair tower, near the ground.

In 2013 it was suggested that the castle could be renovated and turned into an official residence for the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, but the cost of renovation was deemed too prohibitive.

Design
Lauriston Castle was originally a four-storey, stone L plan tower house, with a circular stair tower, with two storey angle turrets complete with gun loops. A Jacobean range was added in 1827, to convert it to a country manor. This was designed by the prominent architect William Burn.

The majority of the interior is Edwardian.

Gardens
The extensive gardens at Lauriston are open to the public at no charge and include a number of different styles and forms. The most recent addition is a notable Japanese garden of one hectare. The garden, built by Takashi Sawano, and dedicated as the Edinburgh-Kyoto Friendship Garden, opened in August 2002.

At the back of the castle there are beautiful views of the Firth of Forth and beyond to Fife, which are enjoyed by members of the Edinburgh Croquet Club on the three croquet lawns laid out on the castle grounds between 1950 and 1955.

To the north-east the gardens include some excellent mature examples of monkey puzzle trees (Araucaria araucana).

The site is also famed for its bluebell wood but the size of this was much reduced by the formation of the Japanese Garden.

Ghost
Lauriston Castle, like so many other Scottish castles, is reputedly haunted. It is said that the sound of ghostly footsteps can be heard.

Lauriston Castle

Abbot House is a heritage centre located on the Maygate in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland. It lies in the shadow of Dunfermline's great abbey church. Located in a building with a 16th-century core, Abbot House offers a view of Scotland's history from early beginnings through the 19th century, provided to visitors by guided tour. The heritage centre closed in August 2015 after attempts, by Abbot House Heritage Centre Trust, to find alternative funding for the centre failed.

In March 2016 it was announced that the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust had taken over ownership of Abbot House, and that they intend to re-open the building to the public. In November 2016 it was announced that Fire Station Creative had been earmarked as the preferred operator, although plans had yet to be finalised and no indication of a possible re-opening date was given. In May 2017 it was reported that a re-opened Abbot House would provide a cafe, restaurant, meeting rooms and suites, and that it was the intention to re-open the cafe "as soon as possible".

As the oldest surviving building within Dunfermline town, and a survivor of the Great Fire of Dunfermline in 1624, the building is indicative of the changing styles of Scottish architecture from the 16th to the 20th centuries.

The earliest phase of the house was a two-story rectangular block of at least two storeys, built into the existing precinct wall. This house incorporated a small Z-plan tower house. The tour of the house reveals many early features of the changing form of the house, including crow-stepped gabling from an early exterior wall within the 'Industrial Room', and a number of excavated fireplaces and ranges now within the cafe area.

Highlights include a frescoed wall painting, dated to 1571, which may depict scenes from a middle-Scots translation of Virgil,in the principal room of the first floor of the house, as well as a 14th-century tracery window.

Trial excavations were begun in the garden of the house in 1988, followed by further work in 1992, and again in 1993 and 1994, excavating eleven separate areas in total. Excavations within the garden in the 1990s revealed various finds, including a very large dog, likely a deer or wolfhound, that measured approximately 86 cm at the shoulder. Other finds included a selection of medieval glazed and unglazed pottery sherds, costume fittings and personal accessories, and ironwork. Two ceramic 'counters', associated with medieval and early modern games and gambling, and a selection of clay pipes, were found on site. Early coinage, from the 14th to the 17th century, was also discovered.

The now greatly ruined castle stands in its woodland policies amidst a series of stone-walled parks, the walls of which are mainly in a state of collapse. The building and the park walls were in the main constructed using stone robbed from Dundonald Castle. A vast number of valuable Eglinton family papers were discovered in one of the apartments in the 1880s, rescued as the building was in a terminal state of decay. Many had already been destroyed through neglect.

Abbot House

Craigcrook Castle is a well-preserved 6,701 square feet (622.5 m2) castle in Blackhall, about 3 miles (4.8 km) west of the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. The castle primarily of the 17th century, though with later additions. In the 19th century it was the home of Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey, and became known for its literary gatherings. It is a category B listed building.

The lands of Craigcrook were, in the 14th century, in the possession of the Graham family. In 1362 the lands were given to the chaplains of St. Giles' Cathedral. They passed through several more owners before 1542, when William Adamson, a merchant and burgess of Edinburgh, took possession. Adamson owned large estates in what is now north-western Edinburgh, including Craigleith, Groathill and Clermiston. Adamson was killed at the Battle of Pinkie on 10 September 1547.[1] The Adamson family constructed, or reconstructed, Craigcrook Castle, and owned it until 1659, when it was sold to John Mein, a merchant in Edinburgh. Ten years later it became the home of Sir John Hall of Dunglass, who later was the Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1689. Hall sold the property in 1682 to Walter Pringle, advocate, who in turn sold it, in 1689, to John Strachan, Writer to the Signet. On Strachan's death in 1719, his property, including Craigcrook Castle, was left for charitable purposes. The charitable Craigcrook Mortification, which was set up on the death of John Strachan, retains ownership of the castle and grounds.

It is not known when the castle itself was constructed. From the style of building, the majority of the castle has been dated to the early 17th century. However, the nature of the vaulting inside suggests that the core of an earlier fortalice was extensively rebuilt or extended at this time.

Archibald Constable, the publisher, occupied it until 1815 when it became the home of the lawyer and literary critic Francis Jeffrey, Lord Jeffrey (1773–1850). Soon after he took on the tenancy, Jeffrey added a drawing room wing to the north, and in 1818 commissioned David Roberts to decorate the library. In 1835 he commissioned William Playfair to remodel the main building and rebuild the east. During the tenancies of Constable and Jeffrey Sir Walter Scott visited the castle frequently. The castle is said to be haunted by Lord Jeffrey.

Another 19th-century tenant was the writer and politician William Stirling who, in 1855, offered the use of the grounds to the English poet Gerald Massey, then in Edinburgh as an editor on the Edinburgh News. Massey subsequently wrote the poem Craigcrook Castle, considered to be one of his most accomplished poems in blank verse.

The tenant after Jeffrey's death was John Hunter Watt. Craigcrook Castle was known during the 19th century for its literary soirées; among the guests were Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, George Eliot and Lord Tennyson.

A billiard room was added to the east by Robert Croall in about 1891, the architect being Thomas Leadbetter. Another extension was added, after the property became the base for an architectural practice, in 1968. The castle was listed on 14 July 1966. Craigcrook was the Scottish headquarters of Marine Harvest Ltd, a multinational fish-farming company, between 1986 and 2004. Benjamin Tindall Architects restored the interior in 1989. It was subsequently occupied as a commercial property until 2014, when it was advertised for sale as a residence.

Craigcrook Castle

Dundas Castle is a 15th-century castle, with substantial 19th-century additions by William Burn, in the Dalmeny parish of West Lothian, Scotland. The home of the Dundas family since the Middle Ages, it was sold in the late 19th century and is currently the residence of politician and businessman Sir Jack Stewart-Clark.

History
The name Dundas comes from the Gaelic dùn deas, meaning 'south hill' or 'pretty hill'. In the 11th century, the lands of Dundas, along with other land in Lothian, were granted by King Malcolm Canmore to Gospatrick, the earl of Northumbria, who had come north to escape William the Conqueror. The lands of Dundas passed to his great-grandson Waldeve, who granted them to his kinsman Helias in a charter dating from around 1180. Helias took his surname from his lands, becoming the first of the Dundas family. The Dundases and their cadets would later come to own much of Mid and West Lothian.

In 1416, James Dundas obtained a licence from the Duke of Albany (then the effective ruler of Scotland) to build a keep. This keep was extended in 1436, making it into an L-plan. The Keep served both as a home in times of peace and a fortress in times of war. Oliver Cromwell is known to have stayed at Dundas Castle around the time of the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. A statue of him remains standing outside the Keep.

In 1818, James Dundas had the 17th century portion of the building pulled down and rebuilt in a Tudor-Gothic style by the renowned architect William Burn. Burn also designed many churches and this influence is visible throughout the building. Burn's designs for the main state rooms allow for huge windows that look out on to lawns and parkland outside.

The building and extensive gardens had cost so much to construct that the Dundases were forced to sell the castle and lands in 1875. The buyer was William Russell. It was again sold in 1899, when it was bought along with five farms and 1,500 acres (6.1 km2) of agricultural land by Stewart Clark, the owner of a Renfrewshire textile company and a respected philanthropist. Clark's son, John, took the double-barrelled surname 'Stewart-Clark' in honour of his father, and he was made a Baronet in 1918.

During the Second World War, Dundas Castle served as the headquarters for protecting the Forth Bridge. Since 1995, the castle's owner has been Sir Jack Stewart-Clark, the great-grandson of Stewart Clark. Stewart-Clark was a Member of the European Parliament between 1979 and 1999.

By the time Sir Jack inherited the property from his mother in 1995, it had deteriorated substantially. He initially considered selling it, but instead chose to embark on a programme of restoration. The Keep, uninhabited for over 300 years, had its parapet rebuilt and its stonework restored, and it was installed with electricity, heating, toilets and a kitchen. The dry rot in the castle itself was removed, and the drawing room, library and dining room were redecorated. The castle is now a 5 star exclusive venue, often used for weddings.

In the grounds of the castle is a holiday cottage called the Boathouse, situated on the shore of Dundas Loch. It is a 4 star self-catering venue.

Dundas Castle is a member of Unique Venues of Edinburgh and Luxury Edinburgh.