Field Visit
Date 20 June 1927
Event ID 1098368
Category Recording
Type Field Visit
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1098368
Kellie Castle.
Kellie Castle, two miles north of St. Monans, looks southward across the estuary of the Forth. It is obvious that the prospect has helped to determine the choice of the site and also that it has not been without influence on the lay-out finally adopted. The house covers a considerable extent of ground, and the irregularity of its plan shows that it includes units of different periods linked together in a reconstruction which may be dated to 1606. There is not sufficient evidence on which to base a precise analysis of its development, and accordingly the building must be described as it now stands. But it may at least be said that the north tower probably represents an early 16th-century tower originally attached to a barmkin, and that the east tower was added c. 1573, these two being connected in 1606 by a main block running east and west with a third tower projecting from it on the south. The result is a plan resembling the letter T, the cross arms being the north and south towers.
In the first half of the 19th century the house fell into disrepair and became almost ruinous, but in 1878 it was taken on lease by the late Professor Lorimer, who restored it judiciously. It is now in occupation. Cf. Cast. and Dom. Arch., ii, p. 125.
[see RCAHMS 1933, 44-47 for a full architectural description]
RCAHMS 1933, visited 20 June 1927.
