Kinnaird 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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Kinnaird Castle, the seat of the Earl of Southesk, in Farnell parish, Forfarshire, within 5 furlongs of the right or S bank of the South Esk river, 3½ miles SE of Brechin, and 15/8 mile NNE of Farnell Road station. Mostly rebuilt about the beginning of the present century, it was enlarged and remodelled in 1854-60 after designs by the late David Bryce, R.S.A.; and ` now resembles an ancient French chateau, with many lofty steep-roofed towers and turrets, long stone balconies, and balustraded terrace walls.' The park, three-fourths of which are occupied by the deer-park, with 400 fallow deer, comprises between 1300 and 1400 acres, and, save where it is bounded by the river, is enclosed by a high wall. Most of its trees were planted towards the close of last century, but there are several 170 to 400 years old, whose dimensions are given by Mr Jervise and in the series of five papers on the ` old and remarkable ' trees of Scotland in Trans. Highl. and Ag. Soc. (1879-81). In 1401-9 Duthac de Carnegie, by purchase and marriage, acquired the lands of Kinnaird. He fell at Harlaw (1411); whilst Walter, his son, for fighting against Earl ` Beardie ' in the battle of Brechin (1452), had his castle of Kinnaird burned down by the Lindsays; and John, his great-grandson, was slain at Flodden (1513). His son, Sir Robert, senator of the College of Justice (1547) and ambassador to France (1550), rebuilt the house of Kinnaird, which was visited by James VI., Charles I., Charles II., and the Chevalier. In 1616 Sir David was created Lord Carnegie of Kinnaird, and in 1633 Earl of Southesk-titles forfeited by the fifth Earl, James, for his share in the '15. The entire estate was bought for £51,549 by the York Buildings Co., on whose insolvency a large portion of the property was repurchased for £36, 871 by the last Earl's third cousin, Sir James Carnegie of Pittarrow, Bart.; and his great-grandson, Sir James Carnegie, K.T., sixth Bart. since 1663 (b. 1827; suc. 1849), was restored to the earldom, by reversal of the act of attainder, in 1855, and in 1869 was created Baron Balinhard of Farnell, in the peerage of the United Kingdom. He holds 22, 525 acres in Forfarshire, valued at £21, 812 per annum.—Ord. Sur., sh. 57, 1868. See pp. 238-249 of Andrew Jervise's Land of the Lindsays (2d ed. 1882).

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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