Tullibole Castle is a 17th-century castle in Crook of Devon, a village in Perthshire. It was built by John Halliday in 1608 and is currently owned by the Moncrieff family. The castle was designated a Category A listed building in 1971.

History
The first evidence of a building on the site was in 1304. The current castle began as a 16th-century tower house before it was expanded in 1608 by John Halliday who bought the land in 1589 from the Herring family. The castle was extended again later in the 18th century before it was passed to the Moncrieff family in around 1740. The interior of the castle and the gardens were renovated in the late 1950s. The name of the castle changed from Tulliebole Castle to Tullibole Castle during the same period.

In 2012, a memorial was unveiled at the castle, commissioned by the current owner of the castle, Rhoderick Moncrieff. It commemorates the Crook of Devon witch trials in 1662 where previous members of the Moncrieff family sent 11 people to their deaths because they were believed to be witches.

The castle is now primarily used for weddings and events as well as a bed and breakfast.

Tullibole Castle

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Loch Leven 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 location of military action during the Wars of Scottish Independence (1296–1357). In the latter part of the 14th century, the castle was granted by his uncle to William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas, and remained in Douglases' hands for the next 300 years. Mary, Queen of Scots was imprisoned here in 1567–1568, 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 Earl of Morton, and moved away from the castle. It was bought, in 1675, by Sir William Bruce, who used the castle as a focal point in his garden; it was never again used as a residence.

Today, the remains of the castle are protected as a scheduled monument in the care of Historic Scotland. Loch Leven Castle is accessible in summer by the public via a ferry.

Early history
A castle may have been constructed on Castle Island by 1257, when the 16-year-old King Alexander III of Scotland was forcibly brought there by his regents. During the First War of Scottish Independence (1296–1328), the invading English army held the castle, then named Loch Leven Castle, which lies at a strategically important position between the towns of Edinburgh, Stirling and Perth. Parts of the present fortification, the curtain wall, may date from this time and were perhaps built by the occupying English. The castle was captured by the Scots before the end of the 13th century, possibly by the forces of William Wallace.

English forces laid siege to Loch Leven in 1301, but the garrison was relieved in the same year when the siege was broken by Sir John Comyn. King Robert the Bruce (reigned 1306–1329) is known to have visited the castle in 1313 and again in 1323. Following Bruce's death, the English invaded again, and laid siege to Loch Leven Castle in 1335 in support of the pretender Edward Balliol (d. 1364). According to the 14th-century chronicle of John of Fordun, the English attempted to flood the castle by building a dam across the outflow of the loch. The water level rose for a month, until the captain of the English force, Sir John de Stirling, left to attend the festival of Saint Margaret of Scotland. The defenders, under Alan de Vipont, took the opportunity to come out of the castle at night, and damaged the dam, causing it to collapse and flood the English camp. The story has, however, been doubted by later historians.

Loch Leven Castle was strengthened in the 14th or early 15th century, by the addition of the five-storey tower house or keep. According to Historic Scotland, it is of the 14th century, making it one of the oldest tower houses in Scotland which still substantially survives. In 1390 King Robert II (reigned 1371–1390) granted the castle to Sir Henry Douglas, the husband of his niece Marjory. From the 14th century, the castle served as a state prison. Prior to becoming king, Robert II was held here in 1369, as was Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas (d. 1439) in the first half of the 15th century. Patrick Graham, Archbishop of St Andrews, died in captivity at the castle in 1478.

The 16th century
Mary, Queen of Scots (reigned 1542–1567) first visited Loch Leven in 1565 as a guest of Sir William Douglas of Lochleven (d. 1606). She held an interview here with the Calvinist preacher John Knox.

Mary returned to Loch Leven as a prisoner, from 17 June 1567 until her escape on 2 May 1568. At the "battle" of Carberry Hill on 15 June, Mary surrendered to her noblemen, who opposed her marriage to the Earl of Bothwell. She was taken to Loch Leven and given into the custody of Sir William Douglas of Lochleven, spending most of her captivity living in the early 16th-century Glassin Tower, at the south-east corner of the castle. Aside from Sir William, the household included his mother Lady Margaret Douglas, mother of Mary's half brother the Earl of Moray, and his brother George Douglas, as well as Willie Douglas, a young orphaned relative. Mary fell ill on arrival due to suspected poisoning, and sometime before 24 July she miscarried twins that she had conceived with Bothwell, who were hastily buried in the grounds. Only a few days later she was forced to abdicate as Queen of Scots, in favour of her infant son James.

Mary recovered during the autumn and winter, and gradually won over George Douglas to her own cause. A contemporary wrote that George was "in fantasy of love wythe hir." Mary had multiple escape attempts at Loch Leven. Once, Mary pretended to be a laundress, while one of her ladies took her place inside the castle. However, as she was leaving the boatman that was taking her across the loch recognized her and took her back. Another attempt was made to escape by scaling the seven-foot wall outside the castle, but another lady-in-waiting injured herself when they were practicing the escape. On the night of the successful escape, Willie Douglas stole the keys and let Mary, dressed as a servant, out of the castle. She was rowed across the lake to where George Douglas awaited her, alongside 200 horsemen, and they fled to Niddry Castle in Lothian. The Castle is one of many in Scotland said to be haunted by Mary's spirit, as it is said she was waiting for her twins to return to her so they would know their loss of life was not her fault. The sadness she felt about their loss, kept her trapped within the castle walls.

The English Earl of Northumberland was also held here, after offending Elizabeth I of England. He was confined at Loch Leven for two years before being sent back to England for execution. In 1588, Sir William Douglas of Lochleven succeeded to the earldom of Morton, as the 6th earl. With the title he inherited other properties, including Aberdour Castle in Fife, and Loch Leven Castle became less frequently used.

Sir William Bruce
From around 1546, Margaret Erskine and her son William Douglas built a house on the shore of the Loch which was known as "Newhouse." The "Newhouse" replaced the island castle as the legal centre of the estate in 1619.

In 1675, the Loch Leven estate was bought from the Douglases by Sir William Bruce (c.1630–1710), royal architect in Scotland. Bruce built nearby Kinross House on the lake shore from 1686, aligning the principal axis of house and garden on the distant castle. The "Newhouse", which was finally demolished in 1723, was just to the north of Bruce's site. Kinross was one of the first buildings in the classical style erected in Scotland. Thereafter Loch Leven Castle was no longer used as a dwelling, but it was preserved by Bruce as a picturesque focus for his gardens.

Recent years
Loch Leven Castle had fallen into ruin by the 18th century, but the ruins were conserved and rubbish removed in 1840. The estate passed from the Bruces to the Graham family in the 18th century and then, in the 19th century, to the Montgomerys, who still occupy Kinross House.

Loch Leven Castle was given in to state care in 1939, and is now managed by Historic Scotland. Today, the castle can be reached by a 12-person ferry operated from Kinross by Historic Scotland during the summer months. The remains of the castle are protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Loch Leven Castle

Castle Campbell is a medieval castle situated above the town of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, in central Scotland. It was the lowland seat of the earls and dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, from the 15th to the 19th century, and was visited by Mary, Queen of Scots, in the 16th century.

The castle was originally known as Castle Gloom, possibly deriving from the Scottish Gaelic: glom, meaning a chasm, and referring to the narrow gorges to either side of the site. The naturally defended position may have been the site of a motte in the 12th century. The present tower was built in around 1430 for John Stewart, Lord Lorne (d.1463), or one of his kinsmen. About 1460, the property was acquired by Colin Campbell, 1st Earl of Argyll (d.1493), on his marriage to Isabel Stewart, Lord Lorne's daughter.  The first historical record of the castle dates from the following year, when Pope Paul II issued a bull against Walter Stewart, son of Lord Lorne, for attacking and damaging the "Place of Glowm". Campbell, who was at the papal court at the time, may have been instrumental in arranging the Pope's intervention. The tower shows signs of early rebuilding following this episode.

The acquisition of Castle Gloom expanded the power of the Campbell family, from Argyll in the west into central Scotland, and suited Colin Campbell's position as Master of the Household to King James III of Scotland, which required his frequent presence at court. In February 1490, Campbell petitioned the newly crowned King, James IV of Scotland, to formally change the name of Gloom to "Castle Campbell", and this was done by an act of parliament. The change in name may imply that the term "castle" was seen as particularly prestigious, requiring royal approval for its use. At this time, the castle would have comprised the tower house, with other buildings arranged around the courtyard and gardens outside. The east range was probably added first, and some time after the accession of the 2nd Earl in 1493, the large south range was begun. This building shows the influence of the contemporary works at Stirling Castle, now known as the King's Old Building. It included a state apartment of hall, outer chamber and bedchamber, with large south-facing windows overlooking the gardens, and a view across the Devon Valley. The range also provided additional private lodgings, and was accessed via two symmetrically placed stairways facing the courtyard.

16th century
In the 16th century, the 4th Earl of Argyll (d.1558) embraced the cause of religious Reformation, and became one of the leading Protestant lords of his day. His family supported the Calvinist preacher John Knox while he was in Scotland in the 1550s. Knox visited Castle Campbell and preached there, some time in 1556. In January 1563 Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed at Castle Campbell on the occasion of the marriage of Margaret, sister to the 5th Earl of Argyll, and James Stewart, Lord Doune. However, on the marriage of Queen Mary and Lord Darnley two years later, Argyll joined other Protestant lords in rebellion. During the Chaseabout Raid which followed, Mary and Darnley received the surrender of Castle Campbell. In the more peaceful 1590s Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll, rebuilt the east range of the castle to link the south range with refurbished guest chambers in the tower. The new work consisted of a fine two-arched loggia facing the courtyard, with a façade of polished ashlar masonry above. Behind this were galleries, fashionable additions to the accommodation within the castle, and new stairs to north and south. The east range has been compared to the north courtyard façade at Crichton Castle which was erected around the same time. An inventory of 1595 records the furniture, tapestries, carpets and other items in each room of the castle, including a total of 47 beds.

Destruction and later history
The Earls of Argyll continued to support the Protestant cause, and in the religious conflicts of the mid-17th century Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl of Argyll, became the leader of the Presbyterian Covenanters, in opposition to the leading Royalist James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose. In 1645 Montrose's troops, on their way to the Battle of Kilsyth, laid waste to the lands around Castle Campbell, including Dollar and Muckhart. Many of Montrose's men were MacLeans, long-standing adversaries of the Campbells. The castle itself was undamaged, and no siege was attempted. In response, Argyll ordered the destruction of Menstrie Castle and Airthrie Castle, both seats of Royalists. After the execution of Charles I the Campbells initially supported Charles II, with Argyll placing the crown of Scotland on Charles' head at Scone in 1651. However, Argyll opposed Charles' invasion of England, and in 1652 he submitted to Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. Cromwell's forces were garrisoned in Castle Campbell in 1653. In July 1654, Royalist rebels attacked and burned Castle Campbell over two nights.

Argyll was executed following the Restoration of 1660 and his son, the 9th Earl, built Argyll's Lodging in Stirling rather than renovate Castle Campbell. Apart from being briefly garrisoned during the Jacobite rising of 1715 the castle was abandoned, and in 1805 the 6th Duke of Argyll sold it to Crawford Tait of Harviestoun, an adjacent estate. In 1859 Harviestoun, and Castle Campbell, was bought by businessman and former Lord Provost of Glasgow Sir Andrew Orr. His son James Orr had excavations carried out at the castle in the 1870s, turning up fragments of stained glass from the windows of the south range.

In 1948 the then-owners of the Harviestoun estate gave Dollar Glen to the National Trust for Scotland, who arranged for the castle to be cared for by the Ministry of Works. Restoration works have included a new roof on the tower, and excavations in the 1980s which revealed charred timbers from the 1654 burning. The castle is now managed by Historic Scotland as a scheduled ancient monument. 



Castle Campbell

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

Balvaird Castle in Perthshire is a particularly fine and complete example of a traditional late medieval Scottish tower house. It is located in the Ochil Hills, around 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) south of Abernethy. Balvaird Castle is a scheduled monument, and is in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

Balvaird was built around the year 1500 for Sir Andrew Murray, a younger son of the family of Murray of Tullibardine. He acquired the lands of Balvaird through marriage to the heiress Margaret Barclay, a member of a wealthy family. It is likely that Balvaird Castle was built on the site of an earlier Barclay family castle. Substantial remnants of earthwork fortifications around the Castle may survive from earlier defences.

Additions and later history
Over the years the castle was extended and altered. A gatehouse was built in 1567. An outer courtyard was attached to the main gate which possibly contained stabling as well as adding an extra layer of defence to the castle. Another courtyard to the south was a garden, while a much larger walled area to the north-east was an orchard or 'pleasance.'

The family continued to live at Balvaird until they inherited the Earldom of Mansfield and in 1658 moved to the rather more comfortable Scone Palace, near Perth. Thereafter the castle continued to be inhabited, though not by the family itself. In its later days, it probably accommodated farm workers.

The Castle was restored and partially excavated in recent years by Historic Scotland, by whom it is maintained, although it was owned by the Murray family until 2017. The site is open at all times, but the tower-house itself can only be visited on a restricted number of days every year. Balvaird Castle is the caput of the feudal Lordship and Barony of Balvaird and is currently owned by American entrepreneur, Brady Brim-DeForest.

Architecture
Balvaird is notable among Scottish castles of its date for its refined architectural detail. Features include corbels in the form of carved heads supporting the corner-roundels of the wall-walk, an unusually elaborate aumbry (wall-cupboard) in the first-floor hall and a cap-house above the stair in the form of a miniature tower-house. It has been suggested that some or all of these carved stone features may have been brought to Balvaird for re-use from an ecclesiastical building.

Balvaird Castle

The monument is a medieval tower-house, built in the later 14th century and further developed in phases during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries.  The footings of a forecourt wall and the slight traces of a defensive ditch survive to the east of the tower, together with the remains of associated garden features on the south side of the tower and a substantial level platform to the north.  The tower is prominently sited 55m above sea level on top of King's Seat Hill, 300m west of the burgh of Clackmannan, with extensive views south over the Forth and north towards the Ochil Hills.

The tower is a roofed and substantially complete medieval tower-house although it contains some re-instated fabric deriving from repairs that followed the collapse of a large section of the east wall in 1950.  The tower-house is L-plan on form; the original 14th century building was rectangular and was heightened with a wing added in the 15th century.  To the south are garden terraces and a square enclosure which was probably a bowling green.  To the north and west is a substantial platform which may represent the remnants of a building platform, an outer courtyard or additional garden features.

The scheduled area is irregular, as shown on the map, covering the upstanding features of the tower, associated earthwork features around the summit and an area around them within which evidence relating to the monument's construction, use and abandonment is expected to survive as shown in red on the accompanying map.  The scheduling specifically excludes, but extends up to, the post and wire fences to the east of the monument, and to the west and south, it excludes the modern fences, to allow for their maintenance and upkeep. The monument was first scheduled in 1921 and amended in 1935, but inadequate area was included to recognise all of the nationally important remains: the present amendment rectifies this.

Clackmannan Tower

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

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

Alloa Tower in Alloa, Clackmannanshire in central Scotland is the surviving part of the medieval residence of the Erskine family, later Earls of Mar.

An architect who was involved in Alloa Tower was John Melvin.

Dating from the 14th century, and retaining its original timber roof and battlements, the Tower is one of the earliest, and largest, of Scottish tower houses, with immensely thick walls. Several 19th century works, including Groome's Gazetteer, date the tower to the year 1223.

The building has been extensively re-fenestrated during its history, but retains some internal medieval features. Incorporated into a much larger classical house of various phases from the 17th century on, the Tower now stands alone once more, later accretions having been demolished.

It is now owned by National Trust for Scotland.

Alloa 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

Broomhall Castle was originally built in 1874 by John Foukes and Frances Mackison for James Johnstone. It is situated in Menstrie, Clackmannanshire, Scotland on the Ochil Hills and consists of three storeys and a tower. In 1906 the wealth of the builder declined, and the Castle was sold to an Italian Riding School. In 1910 it became the Clifford Park Boys Prep School. In 1941 the building caught fire whilst the boarders were camping in the grounds. Despite the efforts of the Alloa Fire Brigade the building was gutted. There was a spectacular scene when the roof fell in, sending a shower of sparks heavenwards. It was left in ruins until 1985 when it was rebuilt and turned into a nursing home. In 2003 it was purchased by the current owners, who turned it into a small hotel. It is currently in use as a 16 bedroom hotel, with restaurant and lounge.