Burleigh Castle

Burleigh Castle, Perthshire

Location

Burleigh Rd, Milnathort

Road

A911

SatNav

KY13 9GG

Burleigh Castle is an excellent example of Scottish baronial architecture, in a very good state of preservation.

The castle is situated right next to the road where there is limited parking, and its grounds are open to walk round.

On one of the doors to the castle is a sign saying the keys for the tower can be obtained from one of the nearby houses at any reasonable time.


The castle remains are extremely impressive, and you can just make out what remains of the moat on one side of the site.


The architecture is really interesting with some lovely features built into the towers.

~ History ~


1445 ~ Sir John Balfour buys the land at Milnathort and builds himself a timber manor house surrounded by a moat.


1500's ~ A fortified tower house built of stone replaces the earlier timber manor house. A courtyard and other buildings are added.

The Balfour's want their new house to be a statement of their wealth, and so create a long avenue of trees to mark the official approach to the castle from the west.


1707 ~ The 5th Lord Balfour of Burleigh is accused of murdering a schoolmaster who had married his childhood sweetheart. He is sentenced to death. However, he escapes from the Tolbooth in Edinburgh by trading clothes with his sister. He hides for a time in a tree near the castle until he escapes overseas to France.


1715 ~ The outlaw Lord returns from France to fight for James Stewart against the British Government to restore the Stewart dynasty to the throne of Scotland, and in doing so take back his lands and castle. When the Jacobite cause flounders, Balfour is again forced to flee back to France, where he later dies. His estates are granted to the Irwin family, then in time to the Grahams of nearby Kinross.