Pittarthie Castle

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Pittarthie Castle ruins

Pittarthie Castle is the ruin of a fortified mansion 2.5 km southwest of Dunino and 6.5 km northwest of Anstruther in the Scottish county of Fife . Sometimes the name is also spelled “Pittairthie”. The ruins are a Scheduled Monument and Historic Scotland has listed them as a Category B Historic Building, but that status has been removed.

history

James Monypenny of Pitmilly had the current house built around 1580. The King confirmed to Andrew Logan of Easter Granton and his heirs "the lands of Pittarthie along with certain others including the fortress, manor, etc., formerly owned by the Archbishop of St Andrews through James Monypenny of Pitmelie, and those in favor of said Andrew The Bruces bought this property around 1636 or 1644. William Bruce of Pittharthie had the house rebuilt in 1653. In 1654 William Bruce inherited the property from his father, Andrew Bruce .

In 1882 the house, which was called “Pittairthie Castle”, was described as “a ruin without a roof in the southwest of the municipality [Dunino], partly very old (...) partly a building from 1653 and its oldest part consists of a large one , square tower with a vault underneath “. The phrase “partly very old” may have originated from the observation of a coarser masonry in the lower part of the south wall, which was mentioned in a later description, which suggests that an even older structure could have stood at this point. According to one report, the property dates back to the 14th century. This report states that the property was said to have fallen to the Hennays of Kingsmuir sometime around 1700 .

ruins

There are extensive remains of a house on a hill, built in an L-shape with an arched north-west corner, the wing attached to the main block in the south-west, with a stair tower in the interior corner. The masonry is made of good quarry stone with stone cladding . Much coarser masonry appears at the foot of the south wall, possibly evidence of the existence of an earlier building. The house features beautiful, but now rather useless, defensive structures - a loopholes next to the roll-molded door and gun holes under the window sills.

The year 1692 is carved together with William Bruce's coat of arms and initials on a segment-shaped roof over the south window of the great hall on the first floor. Like most of the others, this window has rounded vaulted edges, as was common at the end of the 17th century. The inside has fallen into disrepair. In the tunnel vault of the cellar is a kitchen with a large stove on the north side; the water inlet is in the western wall. Presumably the stair tower in the north was also added at the end of the 17th century.

A modern Ordnance Survey map shows the ruins of Pittarthie Castle in a field southwest of Dunino, not very far north of Carnbee . The castle is also featured on some popular maps of the Castles of Scotland .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d e John Gifford: Fife in The Buildings of Scotland . Penguin Books, 1988. pp. 43, 346.
  2. ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  3. ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  4. ^ A b Raymond Lamont-Brown: Discovering Fife . John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh 1988.
  5. ↑ a b Jim Robertson (Queensland, Australia): Correspondence dated March 27, 1996 containing information obtained from the holdings of Mr Ian C. Copland of the District Library Service of the North East Fife District Council in Cupar, Fife, Scotland District Library were outlined. The information includes summaries of a history of structures in Fife by an unknown author, and particularly a detailed description of Pittharthie Castle in an inventory of monuments in Fife published by the Historical Monuments (Scotland) Commission.
  6. ^ Francis Hindes Groome: Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical . Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works 1882.
  7. ^ Ordnance Survey: St. Andrews and Kirkcaldy . Director General of the Ordnance Survey, Southampton 1976. First series, sheet 59, M 1: 50,000.

Web links

Commons : Pittarthie Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 56 ° 16 ′ 18.8 "  N , 2 ° 46 ′ 30"  W.