Kinnaird Castle Angus

Kinnaird Castle in Angus is a large occupied mansion on a private estate south-east of Brechin. Sited on ground which slopes towards the River South Esk, it is not a location of particular strength or strategic importance. The house has been extensively modified over the years, and the style of the oldest cellars is indicative of the 15th century. The ground plan is suggestive of an L-plan building, which may have replaced an earlier defended manorial centre.

The lands of Kinnaird came to the Carnegie family in the early 15th century, and their residence at Kinnaird was burned during the 1450s after the Battle of Brechin. This building was extended in 1555 and the early 17th century, probably forming a courtyard palace for the first earl. Plans drawn up for changed in 1698 were not acted upon, and when the 5th earl was attainted for Jacobite support in 1715, Kinnaird was sold off and left tenanted but unmaintained. In the 1790s it was restored and in the 1850s was remodelled in baronial style. A fire in 1921 gutted the buildings, and little survives to reflect the older structures. Kinnaird Castle is the private home of the Carnegies, now Dukes of Fife, and is not open to the public.

Official Website of the Southesk Estate

HES Canmore database entry