Garth 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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Garth Castle, a mansion in Fortingall parish, NW Perthshire, on the left bank of the Lyon, 1¼ mile ENE of Fortingall hamlet, and 7 miles W by S of Aberfeldy. It was the birthplace of Major-General David Stewart (1772-1829), Governor of St Lucia, and author of Sketehes o-f the Highlanders; and the seat of Sir Archibald Campbell, G.C.B., Bart. (1770-1843), Governor of New Brunswick and commander-in-chief in the Burmese war. Now it is the property of Sir Donald Currie, K.C.M.G. (b. 1825), who purchased the estate for £51,000 in 1880, the year of his election as Liberal member for Perthshire, and who has built a considerable addition, including a tower. Old Garth Castle, 2½ miles NNE, near the right bank of Keltney Burn, is a ruinous square keep, crowning a rocky promontory 150 feet high. It was a stronghold of Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan (the 'Wolf of Badenoch'), in the latter half of the 14th century.—Ord. Sur., sh. 55, 1869.

Garth Castle or Caisteal Dubh, a ruined fortalice in Moulin parish, Perthshire, among a larch plantation ¼ mile SE of Moulin village. It looks, from its style of architecture, to have been built in the 11th or 12th century, but is unknown to record.

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