Places to visit

Burleigh Castle

Burleigh Castle - © Copyright Supergolden and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence.

Burleigh Castle is just outside the town of Milnathort,  which is about 1.5 miles north of Kinross, Perth and Kinross, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Ceann Rois, Peairt agus Ceann Rois, Alba). This is a fifteenth and sixteenth century castle that was originally home to the Balfours. The remains of the castle consist of the late fifteenth early sixteenth century tower house, a sixteenth century corner tower, part of the court yard and part of the curtain wall.

Balvaird Castle

Balvaird Castle

This is located on a hilltop in the Ochil Hills off the A912 about three miles from Glenfarg (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Fairg) which off the M90 south from Perth in Perthshire. It was built around 1500 and has a three storey L-shaped tower house which is open to the public during  summer weekends, but access to the site is open all year round. On the site are also the remains of a number of courtyard buildings.

Elcho Castle

Scotia Depicta - Elcho Castle [Plate] in collection of National Library of Scotland

Elcho Castle is a 16th century Z-plan tower house built by the Wemyss family. It is located  just under a mile north of the village of Rhynd, which is south of the River Tay (Scottish Gaelic: Tatha) and four miles southeast of Perth, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Peairt, Alba). The name of the village Rhynd comes from the Gaelic roinn meaning point or peninsula. This is a well preserved mid-sixteenth century Z-plan tower house with the remains of curtain walls and towers. 

Perth Art Gallery

Perth Museum and Art Gallery

Perth Art Gallery is located at the Marshall Monument, George Street, Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Peairt, Peairt agus Ceann Rois, Alba). Construction of the Marshall Monument began in 1822 and it was opened as a library and museum in 1824. It was gifted to the city by the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth in 1915 on the condition that it was continued to be used only as a library or museum. An extension to the museum was opened in 1935  and it is  a category B listed building. The collections cover history, natural history and art including The St Madoes Stone, a Pictish eighth century AD carved slab stone.

Scone Palace

Scone Palace in Scotland from Morris's Country Seats (1880)

Scone Palace is located near to the village of Scone, Perth and Kinross, Scotland  (Scottish Gaelic: Sgàin, Peairt agus Ceann Rois, Alba) and is about two miles north from the city of Perth off the A93 road. The house and grounds are open to the public and offer a range of facilities. Scone was once the crowning place of the Kings of Scotland and the home of Stone of Scone (Stone of Destiny). Robert the Bruce was crowned at Scone in 1306 and in 1651 Charles II was crowned here as King of Scots some nine years before being restored to the English throne. The place of coronation was known as Caislean Credi (Hill of Credulity) now known as Moot Hill where a replica of the Stone of Scone can be seen. The Palace and grounds are open from the 1st April to 31st October.

Huntingtower Castle

Huntingtower Castle - © Copyright Brian D Osborne and licensed for reuse under Creative Commons Licence

Huntingtower Castle, which was once known as Ruthven Castle, is located close to the village of Huntingtower beside the A85 road and near the A9 road. It is about 3 miles northwest of the centre of Perth, Perth and Kinross, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Peairt, Peairt agus Ceann Rois, Alba). This was built from the fifteenth century by the Clan Ruthven. Mary, Queen of Scots visited the castle on 25 June and 16 September 1565. It was renamed Huntingtower after the demise of the Ruthven's following their plots against King James VI. The castle has two complete tower houses with the eastern tower noted for it's painted ceiling. It is open daily throughout the year.

Castle Menzies

Castle Menzies image courtesy of Castle Menzies and The Menzies Charitable Trust webpage

Castle Menzies is located just west of the village of Weem, Perthtshire, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Chlachain, Siorrachd Pheairt, Alba). It is not far from the market town of  Aberfeldy (Scottish Gaelic: Obar Pheallaidh) in Highland Perthshire. Castle Menzies is a sixteenth century Scottish castle and the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies. It was restored during the twentieth century by the Menzies Clan Society.  Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed for two nights in the castle on his way to the battle of Culloden in 1746. Architecturally the original Z-plan castle is an example of the transition over the years of Scottish castles from earlier rugged Highland fortresses to later mansion houses. 

Blair Castle - Caisteil Bhlàir

Bookplate with arms of 7th to 9th Dukes of Atholl, 1910 image courtesy of wikimedia commons.

Blair Castle - Caisteil Bhlàir is located near the village of Blair Atholl, Perthshire, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Blàr Athall, Siorrachd Pheairt, Alba). It is off the A9 road about 30 miles north of the city of Perth (Scottish Gaelic: Scottish Gaelic: Peairt). The earliest part of castle, Cumming's Tower, dates from 1269 and was extended in 1530 to create a Great Hall. Significant remodelling was undertaken on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is the ancestral home of the Clan Murray, and was historically the seat of their chief, the Duke of Atholl. The castle is open to the public and as home to the Dukes of Atholl the castle tours describe the history of the castle and family and their involvement in the history of Scotland/Alba and the Isle of Man/Mannin.

Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum

Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum image courtesy of Historic Environment Scotland

Meigle Sculptured Stone Museum is located on Dundee Road in the centre of the village of Meigle, Perthshire, Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: Mìgeil, Siorrachd Pheairt, Alba). The Museum, which is based in a former school house, displays 26 Pictish carved stones dating from the 8th,9th and 10 centuries AD. The name of the village of Meigle is of Celtic Pictish origin and about two miles to the east is the village of Eassie, location of the Eassie Stone, a carved Pictish stone dated to the Early Middle Ages.

Culross Palace

Culross Palace view towards Firth of Forth image courtesy BBC Scotland

Culross Palace is located south of the A985 road  west from Dunfermline (Scottish Gaelic: Dùn Phàrlain) at the village of Culross, Fife, Scotland  (Scottish Gaelic: Cuileann Ros, Fìobha, Alba)This a merchants house built in the late sixteenth and seventeenth century and visited by King James VI in 1617. The house is now under the care of the National Trust for Scotland. It became known as a Palace with the growth of the merchants wealth and his lavaish decoration of the house. The palace, study and townhouse are open to the public from 12-5pm from 1sr April -31 May and from 1st June-30th August 12-5pm daily, 1st September-30th September Thursday-Monday and 1st-31th October Friday-Monday. 

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