Grandtully Castle

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Grantully Castle, a fine old baronial mansion in Dull parish, central Perthshire, near the right bank of the Tay, 2¾ miles ENE of Aberfeldy, and 2 SW of Grantully station, midway between that town and Ballinluig Junction. Supposed to have been built in 1560, and surrounded by noble elm trees, it mainly consists of two five-storied towers, with walls 9 feet in thickness, and with additions of 1626 in the shape of gables, pepper-box turrets, and the like. With Traquair, Craigcrook, Ravelston, and Craighall-Rattray, it claims to be the prototype of ' Tully-Veolan ' in Waverley; and now, for several years unoccupied, it is left to desolation and decay. The lands of Grantully were first possessed as a separate estate towards the close of the 14th century by Sir John Stewart, Lord of Innermeath and Lorn, who was third in descent from Sir John Stewart of Bonkill and fourth from Alexander, lord high steward of Scotland. Erected into a free barony by a charter of 1538, renewed in 1623 and 1671, they still are owned by his lineal descendant, Sir Archibald-Douglas Drummond-Stewart, eighth Bart. since 1683 (b. 1817; suc. 1871), who holds 33, 274 acres in the shire, valued at £18,000 per annum. The original castle of 1414 or thereby, 1 mile to the E, has left some vestiges of its foundations; whilst St Mary's church, ¾ mile SSW, which is known to have existed in 1533, retains its roof with twelve medallions (1636) painted on wood. This was the burial place of the Barons of Grantully before they acquired Murtly in 1615. Grantully chapel of ease, ½ mile W by N of the castle, was raised to quoad sacra status in 1883; Grantully inn stands within 200 yards of the station.—Ord. Sur., sh. 55, 1869. See Dr William Fraser's Red Book of Grantully (2 vols., Edinb., 1868).

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Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer