Old Lindores, Castle

NO21NE 20 2644 1675

(NO 2644 1675 ) Old Lindores (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map, (1959)

Called Lindores Castle in 1854, Old Lindores is described as the site of an old castle about 2 chains NE of Lindores House, which is covered with trees, but the surface earth is a mixture of fragments of broken stone and lime mortar. Close by is a 'cave', supposed to have been a cellar in connection with the castle, which is described by the SDD (1960-) as a rubble vault on the site of the old castle, which may have been used as an ice-house.

The castle is said to have been a baronial residence belonging to a family named Mahgill. There is no local knowledge as to when it was erected or demolished. Old Lindores is mentioned in 1578, and both Lindores Castle (see NO21NE 21) and Old Lindores are mentioned by Taylor who adds that Auld Lindores was referred to in documents of about 1480. The present Lindores House, formerly called Auld Lindores, was rebuilt about 1820 by Admiral Maitland on his ancestral property, and was owned by his nephew, in 1876.

O S Name Book 1854; J W Taylor 1875; A Laing 1876; SDD 1960-.

The site of Old Lindores is now covered by a grass lawn, there are no visible remains. At NO 2646 1676 (Visited by OS {J L D} 29 October 1956) there is a small grass-covered earthen mound concealing a small vaulted chamber about 4.0m long, probably an ice-house connected with Old Lindores.

Visited by OS (W D J) 13 May 1970.