Balvaird is a
most attractive tower house perched on a low knoll of the eastern Ochil Hills. It is
reached by a track from the public road. Built with sandstone dressings, the tower is
complete but only open occasionally. The courtyard buildings are accessible, but are in
ruins. The tower is of the L-plan, with entrance door in the re-entrant. The wall-head has
a corbelled parapet, and the turret corbels have small faces below them. Another carved
face is located on the north wall. Within the hall is an aumbry that was probably taken
from a monastery. There is a pit in the vaulted ground floor, and the latrines are all
connected to one chute, flushed with water, which is diverted, from the roof. A cap-house
at the top of the stairway gives access to the parapet walk. To the east of the castle is
the former pleasance, or orchard, and the garden lies to the south.
Sir Andrew Murray, who married
the Barclay heiress, built the castle in 1500. The courtyard range and vaulted gateway
were added in 1567, with guardroom. The Murrays became Viscounts Stormont and Earls of
Mansfield, moving to Scone Palace, but this castle remains in their ownership, though it
is in state care. |
