Balcomie Castle. General view.

Description Balcomie Castle. General view.

Date c. 1890

Collection Papers of Erskine Beveridge, antiquarian, Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland

Catalogue Number SC 747691

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of F 1893

Scope and Content Balcomie Castle, Fife, from the south-east Balcomie Castle, the remains of a large mansion dating from the late 16th century, stands in a rural setting on Fife Ness about 0.8km from the sea. Although much of the building is ruinous, the south-west tower and the west bay of the main block are complete. A late Georgian farmhouse and steading, rebuilt c.1800 from part of the ruins, adjoins the building to the west. This photograph of the castle was taken c.1890 by Erskine Beveridge. The square, south-west tower (left), built in coursed rubble, has a large chimney in its south gable, flanked by two-storeyed corbelled-out corner turrets now sadly bereft of their original conical roofs. They do, however, still retain their quatrefoil gunloops, four-lobed openings for firearms that were placed at strategic positions to defend the approach to the tower. The western end of the main block (right), with lofty chimneys and a steeply pitched roof, has windows with moulded margins and the bases of dormer windows which presumably were originally topped with pediments. The old castle formed the southern side of a courtyard, and was apparently laid out on a symmetrical plan, with a four-storeyed main block lying in an east-west direction, and a five-storeyed tower projecting from each of the southern corners. The main block contained the great hall or principal room of the house, and the principal staircase, with the main entrance probably at its foot, was entered from a turnpike stair projecting externally from the north wall facing into the courtyard. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap