Auchterarder Castle

Auchterarder Castle is a ruined building surrounded by an abandoned farm which is being redeveloped as housing. It consists of a rectangular building likely to be of 18th century date, although this may have reworked older structures. Auchterarder was the site of a royal castle in the 13th century, probably destroyed during the Wars of Independence, and then the location for a tower house erected by the Drummond family, probably in the 16th century, perhaps on the site of an earlier manorial site, and after the Drummond lands in the area were unified into a free barony for John, Lord Drummond, in 1493. In 1572, sasine was given to Patrick, son and heir to David, Lord Drummond, including the “lands and barony” of Auchterarder.

The tower house of Auchterarder was in existence to the north of the burh on both of Pont’s late 16th century maps, a location consistent with Castle Mains Farm, and these both show a relatively modest looking tower. It also appears in the same location on Adair’s map of 1683 as a little tower with courtyard and flag flying, although this is a standard icon so cannot be considered a true depiction of the castle Again it is shown on Moll’s map of 1745 and Willdey’s of 1746 – but not on Roy’s map a few years after, or on Taylor & Skinner’s roads survey in 1776. Stobie’s map of 1786 is specific, naming Castle Mains as a farm and stating that the castle was in ruins. It may be no coincidence that the following year, (when he was able to claim the estates which had been forfeited some forty years earlier) James Drummond, heir to the last Duke of Perth, sold off half the estates, and upon those lands Auchterarder House was founded, a baronial mansion. It is to be presumed that in the meantime, the damaged tower house had been used as a quarry to build Castle Mains Farm.

HES Canmore database entry