Dairsie Castle

Dairsie Castle, Fife
Photo © Jim Bain, 2 January 2006

Restored from a long neglected ruin in the early 1990's it's now a very fine looking building overlooking the once important bridge across the Eden on the route from Cupar to St Andrews.

Dairsie, or Osnaburgh, is a village in north-east Fife, Scotland. It is 3 miles (4.8 km) south-southwest of Leuchars Junction, and 3 miles (4.8 km) east-northeast of Cupar. The village grew out of two smaller settlements (called Dairsiemuir and Osnaburgh), and developed principally around the industry of weaving. The village may have derived its name of Osnaburgh from weaving osnaburg, a coarse linen or cotton, originally imported from Osnabruck in Germany.

Dairsie Castle (now restored) dates from the early seventeenth century, and was briefly the residence of John Spottiswoode (1565-1639), Archbishop of St Andrews. King James VI stayed at Dairsie Castle following his escape from the Raid of Ruthven in June 1583. St Mary's Church was built by Archbishop Spottiswoode in 1621. The church is some distance from the village and ceased to be used for worship many years ago.

DAIRSIE CASTLE, Fifeshire.

This castle, with the quaint old church and bridge, is situated about two and a half miles north-east from Cupar The castle is now in a much dilapidated condition, the roof with the upper part of the walls being gone as also a considerable portion of the west gable, while only indications of the floors and partitions remain. The structure measures about 60 feet 6 inches from east to west by about 32 feet from north to south, with two round towers at the diagonally opposite angles projecting beyond. The entrance was probably in the west gable at the ground level. The basement floor and first floor were each divided into two apartments. The hall on the first floor had a private room adjoining it. In the west gable there are indications of a passage in the wall; this probably contained a straight stair from the entrance door to the hall, and also communicated with the wheel-stair in the south-west tower leading to the upper floors.

The tower at the north-east angle also contained a staircase. The south-west tower was brought to the square at the top, showing an angle gable similar to what is seen at Claypotts, and numerous other
castles of the sixteenth century.

Dairsie can be traced as in the possession of the Learmonts in the year 1520 and it remained in their hands for about a century, when it was sold to John Spottiswood, Archbishop of St. Andrews. We know
that he built the church of Dairsie in 1622, and it is possible that he also built the castle but the probability seems greater that it was erected by the Learmonts. However that may be, it is quite certain that this is not, as is sometimes supposed, the Dairsie Castle where, in 1335, a meeting of the Scottish nobles was held to concert measures for resisting the advancing power of Edward III. The old bridge is usually stated to have been built by the archbishop, but Mr. R. C Walker, Newport, who lately made a careful examination of a carved stone built into the bridge, and which is not readily accessible, found that it contains the
Beaton arms on a shield, behind which are a crosier and the initials LB., clearly showing that the bridge was built by James Beaton Archbishop of St. Andrews, whose reign extended from 1522 till 1539.

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