When travelling around the country, you come across lots of names of families who owned in whatever way a castle or an estate. This story isn't much different, where as it's not really a castle in a way you would expect it to be (it's never in ownership of a king or queen), it's still a magnificent place to visit.
History in a nutshell:
There is no given date of when the building was erupted, but the coat of arms above the doorway of the castle shows that it was very possible build on the existing property in the 15th century after the marriage of Sir Andrew Murray to Dame Margaret Barclay. Margaret Barclay was the heiress of her father, James Barclay of Balvaird, Arngosk and Kippo. He died in 1499 which resulted in Margaret becoming 'owner' of the three castles.
The Murrays lived and owned Balvaird Castle till the late 1650's, the 2nd Lord Balvaird succeeded as 4th Viscount Stormont in 1658 and he decided to take up residency at Scone. Balvaird became lodgings to farm labourers as it lost it importance to the Murrays.
It became a ruin and in the 1970s the Historic Environment Scotland took ownership of the Castle, opening it up for public.
Unfortunately due to the state of the building, only the exterior is visitable, however, it's still a beauty.
(here i am secretly hoping i ever get to work for HES so i can access buildings because i'm obsessed)
But to have your curiosity speak for itself, here are some photos.
information by Historic Environment Scotland, photos by myself.
location of Balvaird Castle: 6m SE of Bridge of Earn off the A912 to Falkland / coordinates: 56.28891388890,-3.34319444444 / grid reference: NO 169 115.
© Historic Environment Scotland & Dani d'Este Photography.
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