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Evelick Castle
Tower House (Medieval)
Site Name Evelick Castle
Classification Tower House (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Castle Of Evelick
Canmore ID 30450
Site Number NO22NW 4
NGR NO 20387 25954
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/30450
- Council Perth And Kinross
- Parish Kilspindie
- Former Region Tayside
- Former District Perth And Kinross
- Former County Perthshire
NO22NW 4 20387 25954.
(NO 2039 2595) Evelick Castle (NR) (rems of)
OS 6" map (1970)
Evelick Castle, a seat of the Lindsays, appears to date from the early 16th century. It is built on a variation of the L-plan, with two wings joining at their corners, and a semicircular stair-tower rising in the SW re-entrant. The walls rise three storeys to the wallhead, but the attic storey above has disappeared, save for the gunloops for its dormer windows. A feature of this castle is the great number of gunloops, there being one for almost every window-breast. There appear to have been two doorways, but possibly that in the N re-entrant is a later provision, although protected by gunloops. The main entrance is in the foot of the stair-tower. The basement has been vaulted, but this, with the floors above, has fallen in. Some of the windows have been enlarged. The fabric is not in a good condition, and is much broken down to W and S.
From traces of foundations it appears to have been of considerably larger dimensions than it now shows, and in the farm steading adjoining stones are utilised which have been taken from its walls. Tranter, however, notes that there have been extensive outbuildings.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887; N Tranter 1963
Photographed by the RCAHMS in 1980.
(Undated) information in NMRS.
NMRS REFERENCE:
Evelick Castle.
Miscellaneous:
Dr.Thomas Ross. - Manuscript notes.
Field Visit (10 October 1963)
When seen in 1963, the remains of Evelick Castle were generally as described above. No traces could be seen of any foundations.
Revised at 1:2500.
Visited by OS (RDL) 10 October 1963.
Field Visit (June 1990)
Evelick Castle is a stepped L-plan tower-house of late 16th-century date. It consists of a main block and wing (11.2m by 7.35m and 6.3m by 6.2m respectively, over walls up to 1.3m thick at ground-floor level), and stands three storeys and an attic in height, with an entrance and stair extruded in a semi-circular tower in the SE re-entrant angle. The tower has been remodelled more than once and the provision of an additional two-storey range is indicated by tusking and openings in the E gable wall. A number of dressed stones, and the lintel for a fireplace, are incorporated in re-use in the early 18th-century farmhouse (now roofless) to the rear of the present steading, while in the steading itself, incorporated above a doorway, there is a dormer window pediment.
Evelick has been the property of the Lindsays since at least 1497.
Visited by RCAHMS (IMS) June 1990.
NSA 1845; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92.
Archaeological Evaluation (3 May 2011)
NO 20387 25954 An assessment was undertaken on 3 May 2011 of Evelick Castle. The aim of the work was to enhance and extend the analysis contained in plans of the structure produced by the RCAHMS. In addition to undertaking an assessment of the standing ruin a record was made of other ex situ architectural fragments. Many of these are incorporated into a ruined cottage to the NE of the existing farm complex. A revised ground floor plan was also surveyed.
Archive: RCAHMS
Funder: Private clients
Addyman Archaeology, 2011
Note (5 July 2022)
Evelick was the residence of a branch of the Lindsay family. The designation 'of Evelick'; was evidently first used in 1497 by the David Lindsay who then held the estates; before then the family is said to have been designated as 'of Leroquhy'. The existing tower house probably dates from the later decades of the sixteenth century.
The family was granted a baronetcy in 1666. The castle has been associated with a number of significant events. Thomas, the second son of the first baronet, was murdered by his step-brother, William Douglas, in 1682, and the latter was subsequently executed. In 1752 Margaret, the daughter of Sir Alexander and Lady Amelia Lindsay, eloped with the painter Allan Ramsay to become his second wife. The last of the line died through drowning in 1799.
The castle is set out to a staggered L-shaped plan, with a circular turret for a spiral stair in the re-entrant angle between the two elements. The main block of the tower is aligned approximately from east to west, and the wing, which is towards the west end of its south face, projects a short way beyond that west end. Masonry tusks projecting from the east gable show that there was to have been a lower range projecting from that side, though the absence of any roof crease suggests that any such range was never built in permanent form. The roofs appear to have oversailed the relatively thin walls, with no evident provision for wall walks at any point, and in its overall appearance the tower is domestic in appearance. However, there is an unusually generous provision of wide-mouthed gun holes at all levels, including a surprisingly large number at garret level.
The tower was entered at the base of the stair turret, above and to one side of which there is a moulded frame for an armorial tablet. Above the basement, the vaults of which have collapsed, there were two principal storeys and a garret in the main block. From the scale of the flues in the south gable of the wing it appears the kitchen was in the basement of that part. As might be expected, the hall was on the first floor of the main block, while the provision of paired stool closets in the north wall indicates that the second floor was divided into two chambers. The garret was lit by windows in the gable walls, and presumably also by dormers, evidence for the design of which may survive in either in the collapsed masonry or in the fragments that have been re-used around the modern steading.
J Gifford 2007; N Haynes 2000; D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887; RCAHMS 1887; RCAHMS; N Tranter 1962
Information from the HES Castle Conservation Register, 5 July 2022
