Scotstarvit
is a very fine and complete ashlar tower built on a rock outcrop, L-shaped in plan, the
arched doorway leads to the vaulted ground floor, and the corbels survive for the missing
wooden entresol floor. The turnpike stair in the wing leads to the first floor hall with
its large fireplace, windows with seats, slop-chute and laird’s lug. The ceiling is
of timber. There are some carved stones on the floor here, one of 1723. The second floor
is again vaulted, the third having a missing timber ceiling. Thre may have been a doocot
in this storey, there being two block openings for birds in the walls. A fireplace which
existed here is now incorporated in the Hill of Tarvit. The stair, which is 75 steps high,
is followed up to the cap-house, with stone roof. Over the doorway is a panel with the
initials SIS DAD IS AD 1627. The parapet walk can be followed right round the tower, and
the roof is of flagstones.
Tarvit tower was erected between 1550-79 for
the Inglis’s, but was purchased in 1611 by John Scot who renamed it Scotstarvit. It
is his initials and those of his wife, Anne Drummond, which appear on the panel over the
cap-house door. He was noted as the author of The Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen.
The estate later passed to the Wemyss family followed by Frederick Sharp in 1904. The
castle was placed in care in 1941, and gifted to the National Trust of Scotland in 1949 by
Miss E C Sharp. |
