Fingask Castle, a fine old mansion in Kilspindie parish, Perthshire, 3½ miles NNW of Errol station. It stands on the W side of a wooded glen, 200 feet above the Carse of Gowrie, and by Dr Chambers is described as an irregular but picturesque structure, comprising a tall front tower of 1594; a still older central portion; an addition of about 1675, with pepper-box turrets at the angles; and a modern dining-room, conservatory, etc. On one side is a winding avenue of pines and sycamores; on the other a beautiful garden, with a terrace beyond, that commands a magnificent view of the Firth of Tay, the Sidlaws, and the Grampians. Within are portraits of the Old Chevalier, Clementina his wife, Prince Charles Edward, his brother Henry, Cardinal of York, the poet William Hamilton of Bangour, and many members of the Threipland family, which seems to have migrated from Threipland in Kilbucho parish, Peeblesshire, about the beginning of the 17th century, and which in 1672 bought Fingask from a cadet of the Bruces of Clackmannan, two years later adding thereto the adjacent estate of Kinnaird. Patrick Threipland, becoming provost of Perth in 1665, was knighted in 1674 for diligence in suppression of conventicles, was made a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1687, and in 1689 died a prisoner in Stirling Castle. His son, Sir David (16661746), in 1715 was one of the first to join the standard of the Earl of Mar, with his eldest son and namesake. The latter was captured whilst crossing the Firth of Forth under MacIntosh of Borlum, but effected a daring escape from Edinburgh Castle. The Old Chevalier passed the night of 7 Jan. 1716 in the ' State-room ' of Fingask, and was again there in the following month; in March Sir David was a fugitive, and his castle was occupied by a party of Government dragoons. The forfeited estate, however, was leased by Lady Threipland from the York Building Company, who had bought it for £9606. In the '45 the eldest son, David, fell at Prestonpans; but the youngest, Stuart (1716-1805), went through the entire campaign, for some time shared in the Prince's wanderings, and at length escaped to France, disguised as a bookseller's assistant, Fingask meantime having been plundered by dragoons. Returning in 1747, he set up as a physician in Edinburgh, and in 1783 bought back the estate for £12, 207, whilst to his son, Patrick (1762-1837), the baronetcy was restored in 1826. His son, the fifth baronet, Sir Patrick-Murray Threipland (1800-82), dying without issue, was succeeded by his cousin, William, second son (b. 1867) of William Scott Kerr, Esq. of Chatto and Sunlaws, Roxburghshire, who holds 2814 acres in Perthshire, valued at £3019 per annum, besides the estate of Toftingall in Caithness, and who has assumed the name of Murray Threipland in accordance with the last baronet's will.—Ord. Sur., sh. 48, 1868. See Robert Chambers, LL.D., The Threiplands of Fingask (Edinb. 1880).
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