A substantial A-listed mansion that was the ancestral seat of the Stirling's of Keir since the 15th century, Keir House stands on high ground looking out over the Carse of Lecropt, 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Bridge of Allan. Although not the first house on this site, the current property was begun in 1760, extended in the 1820s by David Hamilton (1768 - 1843), altered c. 1850 and again c. 1900 by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson (1834 - 1921). The composer Chopin stayed here in the autumn of 1848 and Lt-Col Sir David Stirling (1915-90), who founded the Special Air Service, was a son of the family. In 1975, it was Sir David's brother, William, who sold the house and 6072 ha (15,000 acres) for £2 million to a syndicate of Arab businessmen headed by Mohammed Mahdi Al-Tajir, an oil magnate who later became Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to Britain. The sale was precipitated by Stirling's gambling losses. The remainder of the estate continues in the hands of the Stirling family, now based at nearby Ochtertyre.
Keir House is surrounded by a fine example of a designed landscape, with parkland set out to a plan by Thomas White, dating from 1801 and refined thereafter. Features include a water house, grotto, bathing house, walled garden, picturesque bridges and the ruins of Arnhall Castle, a former seat of the Dow family. The bathing house was designed by Sir Robert Rowand Anderson in 1904. The formal garden was laid out around an old Spanish chestnut tree, thought to date from the 16th C., by James Niven in the mid-19th C. and developed by Anderson and Balfour Paul.
