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Otterston Castle

Tower House (Medieval)

Site Name Otterston Castle

Classification Tower House (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Otterstone; Otterstoun

Canmore ID 50825

Site Number NT18NE 3

NGR NT 16514 85282

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/50825

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council Fife
  • Parish Dalgety
  • Former Region Fife
  • Former District Dunfermline
  • Former County Fife

Archaeology Notes

NT18NE 3 16514 85282

(NT 1651 8527) Otterston (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1966)

The earliest part of Otterston Castle, built about the end of the 16th century, is the L-shaped central main block lying E-W with the wing projecting from the W end. The barmkin, running N and attached to the E wall of the wing, was probably an afterthought. The entrance is close to the northern of the two surviving towers which stood on the barmkin. Two wings were added within the barmkin in the 17th century. Extensive modern additions and alterations have been made.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1892; RCAHMS 1933, visited 1925.

Otterston Castle has been demolished except for a 16th century barmkin tower and some adjacent fragments of walling of indeterminate date. The tower, of rubble masonry with stone dressings, is of two storeys with a modern parapet. Two small gun-loops in the second storey face NE and SE respectively.

Visited by OS (AC) 11 March 1959

No change to previous field report.

Visited by OS (BS) 17 December 1975

Activities

Field Visit (29 June 1925)

Otterston Castle.

The present mansion stands on rising ground about 2 ½ miles north-east of Inverkeithing, overlooking the little loch of Otterston. It is a large composite structure, the earliest part being the L-shaped central portion, or main block, which lies roughly east and west, with the wing projecting from its western end. This was the original house, built towards the close of the 16th century. The barmkin attached to the eastern wall of the wing and running northwards was probably an afterthought. Two of the towers which stood upon the barmkin still survive, and close to the more northerly of these is the entrance to the enclosure . In the 17th century two new wings were added within the barmkin, one as a westward continuation of the main block and the other as a prolongation of the original wing. Within modern times extensive additions were made on both sides of the old house, and these involved considerable internal alterations, among which was the gutting of the lower floors of the original wing to make room for a new staircase.

The entrance to the original house lies within the re-entrant angle. It is heavily moulded and bears on the lintel the date 1589 and what seem to be D.M. and L.M. in monogram, with the greeting, WELCVM FREINDIS. Just within the entrance is a good scale-staircase, which rises against the east wall of the main block to first-floor level, from which the ascent is continued by a turret-stair corbelled out from the eastern gable; on the upper floors there is a passage above the scale-stair. This arrangement of communication is very interesting and at first sight appears to be an innovation and an improvement on the more usual plan of the time, but on examination it proves to be are production of an arrangement common in 15th-century work.

Above the entrance is a heavy stone corbelling which returns at the re-entrant angle along the eastern face of the wing. There are three floors within the main block and these are served by the two sets of stairs mentioned above; the wing has a fourth storey which is reached from a second turret-stair corbelled out within there-entrant angle. The 17th-century prolongation of the wing is two-storeyed, while that of the main block is three-storeyed. From the latter may have come the armorial panel now inserted high up in the modern gable adjoining. It is surmounted by a helm and mantling; the shield is very weatherworn, the arms being entirely illegible, and is flanked by initials, which may be G.L. or B.B. or S.-., and a date, which is either 1636 or 1686.

The ground floor of the old house is vaulted. On the first floor are two rooms. One, within the wing, had a 17th-century panelled ceiling in plaster; the other, within the main block, was a stately chamber, 30 ¼ by 16 ½ feet, which was heavily panelled in a late 17th-century mode, but little of this finishing remains. Elsewhere the house has been entirely modernised.

HISTORICAL NOTE. The lands of Otterston since the 15th century were often sub-divided and passed through many hands, so that it is not, so far, possible to allot any of the initials given above to proprietors at the given date.

RCAHMS 1933, visited 29 June 1925.

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