Keillour Castle

Keillour Castle is a 19th century mansion which incorporates part of an earlier castle within its fabric.

When the first castle was built at Keillour isn’t clear, however the estate of Keillour was owned by Robert, 4th Earl of Strathearn, in the first half of the 13th century. Keillour remained a possession of the Earls of Strathearn until the third quarter of the 14th century when it passed to Sir James Douglas, 1st Lord Dalkeith. He is said to have acquired the estate from the 10th Earl, Robert Stewart, later Robert II, some time between 1357 and 1370. Douglas would later marry Robert’s granddaughter, Elizabeth Stewart, in 1387.

Keillour Castle stood on a ridge commanding views over Strathearn to the south, sited on a peninsula of sorts, protected to the west by the Horn Burn and to the east by the Keillour Burn, the two burns converging to the south of the castle.

There was certainly a castle here by the 17th century, owned by the Murray family. A carved armorial panel thought to date to the 17th century was relocated form the castle and built into the north wall of the farmhouse of Green of Keillour to the north of the castle, while a dormer head from the castle, carved with the date 1607, was incorporated into a garden wall at Craigend to the south-east.

In 1683 David Graham, eldest son of Mungo Graeme of Gorthie, married Margaret Murray, daughter of Patrick Murray, 2nd of Keilour, and Keillour seems to have passed to the Graham family. In 1705 David, who was Chamberlain to the Duke of Montrose, and his son, James, were infeft in the lands of Braco and Keilour which David had acquired from the Marquis of Montrose. How Montrose came to own Keillour at this time isn’t clear and requires further research. When David died in 1720 Keillour passed to his second son, Patrick.

In the 19th century the estate was bought by William Thomson, who had earlier bought the estate of Balgowan, and around 1877 a new house was built to a design by the architect Andrew Heiton, supposedly incorporating remains of the old castle within its basement.