Old Tulliallan Castle

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Tulliallan (Gael. tulach- aluinn, `beautiful knoll), a parish of SE Perthshire (detached), containing the small port of Kincardine, on the NE shore of the river Forth, 3 miles S by W of Kincardine station (in Clackmannan parish), this being 3¼ miles E of Alloa and 10 ½ WNW of Dunfermline. The ancient parish comprised only the barony of Tulliallan; but the present parish, since 1673, has included also the barony of Kincardine and the lands of Lurg, Sands, and Kellywood, which previously belonged to Culross parish. It is bounded W and N by Clackmannan, E by Culross, and S and SW by the river Forth. Its utmost length, from N to S, is 3 ¾ miles; its utmost breadth is 3 miles; and its area is 4176 ½ acres, of which 484 are foreshore and 1061/5 water. The surface slopes gently southward to the Forth. It comprises part of a gentle broad-based hill (324 feet), which has declinations to the N and NE, but is itself well sheltered in these directions by rising-ground and extensive plantations. The hill looks beautiful in both form and shelter, and is supposed to have given name to the parish. The coast, inclusive of curvatures, has an extent of 3 ¾ miles. From the western boundary to the New Pans the shore is level; and thence to the extreme E, it abounds in rocks which are either bare or covered with the tide. In 1823-39 a considerable extent of valuable land, as noticed in our article on Kincardine, was reclaimed from the tide by means of two extensive embankments. Nearly 500 acres are under wood; and almost all the rest of the area is either regularly or occasionally in tillage. The soil is variously reclaimed peat, moorish mould, coarse clay, fine loam, and rich alluvium. The rocks belong to the Carboniferous formation; and sandstone of excellent quality has long been worked in the vicinity of Longannet. Coal and ironstone also abound. Of the ancient castle of Tulliallan, 1 mile N by W of Kincardine, nothing remains but the ground story. It seems to have been a place of considerable strength, engirt by a moat, which communicated with the Forth. The lands of Tulliallan, long possessed by the Blackadders, in 1798 were purchased-by the distinguished admiral, the Hon. Sir George Keith-Elphinstone, K. B. (1747-1823), who in 1814 was created Viscount Keith, and who in 1818-20 built the noble modern castle of Tulliallan, 5 furlongs N by E of Kincardine. On the death of his elder daughter, the Baroness Keith and Nairne, and Comtesse de-Flahault (1788-1867: see Meikieour), Tulliallan passed to her half-sister, the Hon. Mrs Villiers, who in 1870 formed a second marriage with Lord W i am Godolphin Osborne, uncle of the -Duke of Leeds. Another mansion, Sands, is noticed separately. Tulliallan is in the presbytery of Dunblane and the synod of Perth and Stirling; the living is worth £327. The churches are described under Kincardine. Tullisllan public and Lincardine schools, with respective accommodation for 357 and 167 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 190 and 171, and grants of £177, 19s. and £149, 12s. 6d. Valuation (1866) £7847, (1885) £8969. Pop. (1801) 2800, (1831) 3550, (1861) 2410, (1871) 2184, (1881) 2207.—Ord. Sur., sh. 39, 1869.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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