Buchanan Castle

Buchanan Castle is a ruined 19th century mansion house in grand baronial style by William Burn. It is surrounded by safety fencing as it is dangerous to go inside, and there is no nearby parking as the grounds were sold off and have been converted largely into privately owned houses and gardens within the Buchanan Castle Golf Course estate. It replaced an earlier house built c1850 and was deroofed and abandoned c1950.

The older house, known as the Auld House of Buchanan, was a substantial redesign and/or extension by the Marquis of Montrose of a still older tower house type structure which may have dated back to the early 17th century, when the land was still owned by the Buchanans. Minor remodelling was under way by 1713 and a massive redesign commenced c1751. Parts of the Auld House can be seen incorporated into later buildings by the clubhouse of the golf club.

The tower house was preceded by the Peel of Buchanan, the site of which is unconfirmed, but probably lies underneath the golf course as it is described as having been 200 paces in front of “the mansion” (ie Auld House). LIDAR imagery in this location is useless due to the golf course landscaping work, but about 400 paces to the south of the Auld House is an hourglass shaped feature known as the “Peel Pond” which LIDAR shows is part of a complex of old watercourses of the Drymen Burn, possibly at one point having created a river island which would have worked as a defensive site at one point.

HES Canmore database entry (Peel of Buchanan)
HES Canmore database entry (Buchanan Castle)
HES Canmore database entry (New Buchanan Castle)