Glenaeagles Castle is a ruined 14th or 15th century tower and courtyard castle, hidden away within woods on a small iron age fort and knoll besides a ravine.

Finding this little gem was not easy. It is located 50 yards on the right hand-side of the access road to Gleneagles house off the A823. There is a pull-in on the right for one car to park where a track heads down into to the woods. Take this track down towards and then across the stream. Climb the steep bank on the other side and you will find the castle ruins. Sadly, like many castles recently, it has been surrounded by metal fencing. Fortunately there is gap where the water drains down towards the stream.

The name Gleneagles has nothing to do with the chief's heraldry but is derived from the Scottish Gaelic, eaglais, which means a church.

~ History ~

1100's ~ The Gleneagles estate is held by the Haldanes.

1296 ~ Aylmer Haldane signs the Ragman Roll swearing fealty to King Edward I of England. However, he soon allies himself with Robert the Bruce in the struggle for Scottish independence.

1482 ~ Sir John Haldane, third of Gleneagles and Lord Justice General of Scotland beyond the Forth, sheriff principal of Edinburgh and Master of the Household under King James III of Scotland, resigns his lands in Fife, Stirlingshire and Perthshire to the Crown. As a result he receives a charter that erects them into the free barony of Gleneagles.  Through marriage to a daughter of Murdoch Menteith of Rusky,  he also claimes the Earldom of Lennox. A lengthy lawsuit results which sees Stuart, Lord Darnley, retain the Earldom but Gleneagles is compensated with one quarter of the lands.

1505 ~ Sir James Haldane, fourth of Gleneagles is appointed Governor of Dunbar Castle. His son, Sir John Haldane, fifth of Gleneagles is responsible for erecting lands in Lennox and Perthshire that were not already part of Gleneagles into the barony of Haldane.

1513 ~ Sir John Haldane is killed at the Battle of Flodden.

1560 ~ Robert Haldane, laird of Gleneagles, and his brother John, are at the Siege of Leith in support of the Scottish Reformation. Embracing the reformation, the Haldanes play a prominent part in the political upheavals that remove Mary, Queen of Scots.

1585 ~ The Haldanes are part of a force that lay siege to Stirling Castle. They attempt to persuade the King to rescind the banishment on the Earl of Angus and other unruly Protestant nobles. James Haldane, brother of the Laird of Gleneagles, leads an attack on the west part of the castle. He engages Sir William Stewart, colonel of the Royal Guard. Haldane is shot while on the point of victory by Stewart's servant.

1624 ~ The Haldanes abandon their castle for the luxury of a new mansion built nearby.

1633 ~ Sir John Haldane, eleventh Laird of Gleneagles, as a professional soldier, fights for Henry, Prince of Orange, along with his brother, James Haldane in the Netherlands. He is knighted by King Charles I of England  and represents Perth in Parliament. As a strong supporter of the National Covenant he burdons his estates with debts raising men and supplies for the cause. He builds Gleneagles House.

^{1650 ~ Sir John Haldane fights for the Royalist army, leading his regiment against Parliament at the Battle of Dunbar.} 

1700's ~ The Haldanes support the Hanovarians during the Jacobite risings. 

1743 ~ General George Haldane, son of the sixteenth Laird, as  a professional soldier fights against the French at the Battle of Dettingen. He returns to fight the French at the Battle of Fontenoy two years later.

1745 ~  Returning from France, Haldane serves under the Duke of Cumberland against the Jacobites.

1820 ~ The Gleneagles estate passes to a cousin of the eighteenth Haldane of Gleneagles, Admiral Adam Duncan, Viscount Duncan of Camperdown, who is renowned for his victory at the Battle of Camperdown.

1831 ~  The Admiral's son assumes the surname of Haldane and is raised to the title of Earl of Camperdown.