Loch and Castle of Clunie

Category

Library Item

Item no

13098

Title

Loch and Castle of Clunie, from the [word illegible] grounds [?]

Artist / maker

Webster, Mary

Date

1839

Size

24.8 x 31.4 cm

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Annotation below painting reads 'Sketched from nature September 1839'

The Loch of Clunie is located on an east/west route between Dunkeld and Forfar. There is evidence of occupation since the Iron Age and the site later became incorporated into a Royal forest.

Clunie Castle was an L-plan tower house built by George Brown, Bishop of Dunkeld between 1485 and 1514 predominantly to serve as a hunting lodge but perhaps also to secure the area against robbers that apparently had become established in the region. Rather than re-use the earlier site on the Hill of Clunie, the new tower was sited upon an artificial island within Loch of Clunie. The new structure was built from stone quarried from the former fortification and consisted of a three storey (plus attic) rectangular tower with an adjoined stair wing. The ground floor comprised of storerooms and a kitchen, the first floor was the Great Hall whilst the upper level and attic were used as accommodation. In 1507 money was provided for construction of St Catherine's Chapel adjacent to the tower.

During the 1560s vast tracts of ecclesiastical property passed into secular control as the Scottish Reformation swept through the country. In anticipation Robert Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld (d. 1585) granted the property to his kinsman, Robert Crichton, Lord Advocate of Scotland. This transfer of ownership is perhaps what prompted the remodelling of the castle when dormers were added to the parapets and additional fireplaces installed.

Clunie Castle was upgraded again in the eighteenth century to enhance its comfort. Larger windows were fitted to the main block and the internal arrangements were reconfigured. A new kitchen range was built adjoined to the tower on the north side which was presumably built over St Catherine's Chapel. Clunie Castle was gutted by fire in the twentieth century and thereafter became a roofless ruin. It was never rebuilt.

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Architecture > Architectural features > Roofs

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Landscape > Water > Loch, lakes and ponds

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Places > Scotland > Angus

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Plants > Trees

Transport > Infrastructure > Footpaths