Ballinbreich Castle is a ruined tower house castle in Fife, Scotland.
| Ballinbreich Castle | |
|---|---|
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  Ballinbreich Castle | |
| Coordinates | 56°22′16″N 3°10′49″W / 56.371177°N 3.180184°W |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Ruined |
| Site history | |
| Built | 14th-16th century |
| Built by | Clan Leslie |
The castle was built in the 14th century by Clan Leslie, and subsequently rebuilt several times. There may have been an outer curtain-wall though this no longer survives. Much of the present structure is of 16th-century date. It is a three-storey L-plan castle and overlooks the Firth of Tay.[1] Ballinbreich is a scheduled monument.[2] It was a home of the Leslie family, Earl of Rothes.
Early maps of the castle by Timothy Pont and John Adair at the National Library of Scotland show the castle within a curving wall or earth bank. From the air, two curving enclosures can be seen, the crop mark remains of ditches. The inner area was probably the 16th-century garden, and rectilinear crop marks within the larger enclosure may have been later garden features.[3]
Mary, Queen of Scots stayed at the castle on 23 March 1563 and 26 January 1565.[4] Regent Morton made a progress in September 1575. He came to Ballinbreich from Tullibardine and went on to Huntingtower Castle to the christening of James Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie.[5] James VI stopped at Ballinbreich on 28 June 1583 (18 June O.S.) shortly after escaping captivity at Falkland Palace then went on to Lordscarnie, belonging to Sir Robert Melville.[6]
References edit
- ^ "Ballinbreich Castle". Canmore. Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 31 August 2017.
- ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "Ballinbreich Castle (SM844)". Retrieved 11 April 2019.
- ^ Marilyn Brown, Scotland's Lost Gardens (RCAHMS, Edinburgh, 2012), pp. 112-3.
- ^ Edward Furgol, 'Scottish Itinerary of Mary Queen of Scots, 1542-8 and 1561-8', PSAS, 117 (1987), microfiche, scanned
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1574-1581, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 197 no. 202.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland: 1581-1583, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 506.