Stobhall Castle

Stobhall Castle, Perth And Kinross
Photo © Andrew Mitchell, July 1999

In the middle of the 14th century Sir John Drummond married the last of the Montfichets who owned the lands of Cargill and Stobhall. They moved from about three miles away to Stobhall where the Chapel may already have been standing. Recently the plain plaster ceiling of the passage was taken down and underneath were found the painted beams c. 1578.

--STOBHALL CASTLE, PERTHSHIRE.

This residence is situated on the left bank of the Tay, about eight miles up the river from Perth. It consists of four distinct buildings, occupying the summit and point of a ridge bounded by the Tay on the west, and a deep precipitous glen through which runs a winding burn on the south and east sides. The entrance to the courtyard is by a gateway at the north-west angle, with a passage or "pend" under what is called the Dowery House."This house and two other buildings form an irregular courtyard, while the fourth building is situated on lower ground behind them to the east.

The principal and oldest building of the group is that containing the chapel, bearing date 1578 in four places. It is in perfect preservation, and contains many points of interest. The entrance is protected by an outside porch with two doors, one on each side, within which there is an inner door in the main wall strongly guarded with a sliding bar.

The Dowery House on the west side of the courtyard bears the date 1671, and is a fair specimen of the plain unpretending architecture of that period The shallow entrance porch of the Dowery House is interesting as an early example of a feature now considered essential in modern country houses.

The laundry forms a separate building, and, as seen from the court- yard, with the group of the chapel and turreted house has a most quaint appearance, with its low side walls only 3 or 4 feet in height, and its lofty roof seeming to rise almost from the ground. Beneath the laundry, and entering from the lower court, are the brew- house and bakehouse, with wide fireplace and oven. There is still another building to the south-east of the chapel, which bears the date 1781.

The barony of Stobhall was granted by King Robert I. to Sir Malcolm Drummond after the battle of Bannockburn. His grandson, Sir John Drurnmond, married Mary, daughter and heiress of Sir William de Montifix, in 1360, and their daughter, Annabella Drummond, as the Queen of Robert II., has made Stobhall memorable as one of the ancestral homes of our Scottish and British Sovereigns.

In 1488 the Drummonds, although still continuing proprietors of Stobhall, removed to Strathearn, twenty miles away, where they built Drummond Castle, which ultimately became their chief residence.

The chapel and buildings attached seem to have been built by David, second Lord Drummond, who succeeded to the estates about 1520. He was twice married first, to Margaret, daughter of Alexander, Duke of Albany, and granddaughter of King James n. ; and second, about the year 1559, to Lilias, daughter of Lord Ruthven and Jean Haliburton of the Dirleton family. On the lintel of the fireplace in the upper room of the Dowery House are cut the initials D. L. D. (David, Lord Drummond) and D. L. R. (Dame Lilias Ruthven), with their arms between, having the date 1578 beneath. The same arms and date again occur over the north gable of the chapel, and again over the south porch.

The Dowery House was evidently built by John, second Earl of Perth. He succeeded to the estates about 1612, and married Lady Jane Ker, eldest daughter of the Earl of Roxburgh. She died young, after about ten years of married life, while her husband survived her in widowed solitude for forty years. Over the entrance the initials occur of Earl John Perth and Countess Jane Perth, with their arms between, surmounted by a coronet. A date (1671) occurs on another part of this building. Now, as Earl John died in 1662, the Dowery House may not have been entirely completed at one time. The second Earl was created Duke of Perth by James vn., at St. Germains in 1695, and the Dowery House was probably finished by him. The boat-house, which is the next in order of the buildings, was evidently built by James, the third Duke. He was wounded at Culloden, and died during his passage to France on board a French frigate. Fourteen years afterwards, or in 1760, the Perth branch of the family ended, when a second cousin of the Lundin family succeeded and assumed the title of Earl of Perth, and erected the building towards the south-east of the site of the old walls already referred to.

Stobhall, although no longer used as a residence, except for a gardener or caretaker, is kept in perfect order. Its excellent preservation forms quite a contrast to the neglectful apathy with which many specimens of our ancient architecture are regarded.

THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND THOMAS ROSS, 1889--