Balgonie Castle

The lands of Balgonie were held by the Sibbalds from at least 1246, and probably in the 1360s they built a barmkin, or fortified courtyard, with a tower house at its north-west corner. The estate passed to a daughter, whose husband Sir Robert Lundie extended the castle in 1496 after being appointed Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, adding a two-storey range east of the keep with a long hall and a solar, and absorbing an earlier corner tower and the 14th-century chapel. King James IV visited on 20 August 1496 and gave the masons eighteen shillings as a gift.

In 1627 the castle was sold to the Boswells, and in 1635 to Sir Alexander Leslie, the Scottish soldier who had risen to Field Marshal in the Swedish army during the Thirty Years' War and who led the Covenanters in the Bishops Wars. Created Lord Balgonie and Earl of Leven in 1641, he added a two-storey block at the south-east corner of the courtyard — inscribed with the initials FSAL and DAR for himself and his wife, Dame Agnes Renton — raised the north range by a storey and laid out a park. Later came a grand stair built for John Leslie, 7th Earl of Rothes, with the king's master mason John Mylne junior, and a three-storey linking range added in 1706 by David Melville, completed by master mason Gilbert Smith. Rob Roy MacGregor captured the castle in a raid of 1716, though it was soon returned to the Melvilles.

Sold in 1824 to James Balfour of Whittingehame — grandfather of Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister from 1902 to 1905 — the castle slid into decay, and in the mid 19th century its roofs were removed to avoid paying tax on the property. Vandalism followed in the 1960s, and restoration only began in 1971 under David Maxwell, continuing through the 1970s and 1980s with European funding tied to European Architectural Heritage Year in 1975. The keep and chapel are now fully restored and occupied by the present owner, Raymond Morris, originally of Walsall, and his family, who intend to carry the restoration through the rest of the building.

Several hauntings have been reported within the castle, though what has come down to us is short: a green lady known as Green Jeanie, a 17th-century soldier, a dog and a hooded man. No dates, witness names or recorded descriptions accompany them.

One find is a matter of record rather than folklore. During works in 1912 a skeleton was found in the floor of the great hall. Nothing is known of who they were, and they are best remembered as a person rather than a curiosity.

The castle is open to the public, and the restored chapel and great hall can be hired for events such as weddings. Visitors enter through the 15th-century gatehouse into the courtyard; the keep's vaulted ground and first floors, the hall that unusually had no great fireplace, the turnpike stair, and the vaulted chapel in the basement of the north range are the heart of the restored fabric. The remainder of the north range and the east buildings are roofless, with walls and chimney stacks standing.

Outside, look for the 17th-century parapet walk and cannon spouts, the enlarged windows of the same date and the smaller trefoil-headed originals that survive. Beyond the walls the extensive boundary walls of the deer park remain, damaged in places, with large mature trees left from the 17th-century landscaping. Balgonie is a Scheduled Ancient Monument apart from the tower, which is in residential use — so please treat it as the family home it is.