Balintore Castle
Encyclopedia
Balintore Castle is a Victorian
Category A listed building in Scotland
.
The castle occupies an elevated site in moorland above Balintore village
, a few miles north of the Loch
of Lintrathen, near Kirriemuir
, Angus
. A tower house named Balintor existed on the site in the late 16th century, according to Timothy Pont
's maps.
It was designed in 1859 by the architect William Burn
. A typical example of the Scottish Baronial style, it features an abundance of turret
ed towers and gables
, and an imitation portcullis
. The main tower is topped by a balustraded
viewing platform similar to that of Buchanan Castle
.
The centrepiece of the interior is the great hall
, and there is also a gallery, bedrooms, dinner service room, women servant’s sitting room, brushing room, beer cellar, lumber room, butler’s pantry
, dining room, and a library.
Balintor Castle was commissioned as a sporting lodge by David Lyon, MP, who had inherited a fortune made by his family through investments in the East India Company. Latterly the castle was only used during the shooting season. In the 1960s it was decided not to repair the extensive dry rot
and it was abandoned. The castle then stood empty until 2007, during which time its condition deteriorated to point of endangering the structure. Balintore Castle has been listed in the Scottish Civic Trust Buildings at Risk Register since it started in 1990. Angus Council used its compulsory purchase powers to buy it from its absentee Far Eastern owners, and it is now in the hands of a Scotsman who intends to restore it and use it as a residence.
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
Category A listed building in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The castle occupies an elevated site in moorland above Balintore village
Balintore, Angus
Balintore is a village in Angus, Scotland. It lies in Glen Isla, four miles north of the Loch of Lintrathen and seven miles west of Kirriemuir. Approximately half a mile to the east is Knowehead of Auldallan farm, where there can be found a pair of uninscribed standing stones....
, a few miles north of the Loch
Loch
Loch is the Irish and Scottish Gaelic word for a lake or a sea inlet. It has been anglicised as lough, although this is pronounced the same way as loch. Some lochs could also be called a firth, fjord, estuary, strait or bay...
of Lintrathen, near Kirriemuir
Kirriemuir
Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland.-History:The history of Kirriemuir extends to the early historical period and it appears to have been a centre of some ecclesiastical importance...
, Angus
Angus
Angus is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland, a registration county and a lieutenancy area. The council area borders Aberdeenshire, Perth and Kinross and Dundee City...
. A tower house named Balintor existed on the site in the late 16th century, according to Timothy Pont
Timothy Pont
Timothy Pont was a Scottish topographer, the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an actual survey.-Life:...
's maps.
It was designed in 1859 by the architect William Burn
William Burn
William Burn was a Scottish architect, pioneer of the Scottish Baronial style.He was born in Edinburgh, the son of architect Robert Burn, and educated at the Royal High School. After training with the architect of the British Museum, Sir Robert Smirke, he returned to Edinburgh in 1812...
. A typical example of the Scottish Baronial style, it features an abundance of turret
Turret
In architecture, a turret is a small tower that projects vertically from the wall of a building such as a medieval castle. Turrets were used to provide a projecting defensive position allowing covering fire to the adjacent wall in the days of military fortification...
ed towers and gables
Gables
Gables may refer to:* Gables, portion of walls between the lines of sloping roofs* Ken Gables , Major League Baseball pitcher* Gables, Nebraska, an unincorporated community in the United States...
, and an imitation portcullis
Portcullis
A portcullis is a latticed grille made of wood, metal, fibreglass or a combination of the three. Portcullises fortified the entrances to many medieval castles, acting as a last line of defence during time of attack or siege...
. The main tower is topped by a balustraded
Baluster
A baluster is a moulded shaft, square or of lathe-turned form, one of various forms of spindle in woodwork, made of stone or wood and sometimes of metal, standing on a unifying footing, and supporting the coping of a parapet or the handrail of a staircase. Multiplied in this way, they form a...
viewing platform similar to that of Buchanan Castle
Buchanan Castle
Buchanan Castle is a large house in Stirlingshire, Scotland, and serves today as the seat of the Clan Graham.Located west of the village of Drymen, the house was built by the 4th Duke of Montrose in 1854. The original structure, the ancestral seat of the Clan Buchanan, had burned down in 1852, and...
.
The centrepiece of the interior is the great hall
Great hall
A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, nobleman's castle or a large manor house in the Middle Ages, and in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries. At that time the word great simply meant big, and had not acquired its modern connotations of excellence...
, and there is also a gallery, bedrooms, dinner service room, women servant’s sitting room, brushing room, beer cellar, lumber room, butler’s pantry
Pantry
A pantry is a room where food, provisions or dishes are stored and served in an ancillary capacity to the kitchen. The derivation of the word is from the same source as the Old French term paneterie; that is from pain, the French form of the Latin panis for bread.In a late medieval hall, there were...
, dining room, and a library.
Balintor Castle was commissioned as a sporting lodge by David Lyon, MP, who had inherited a fortune made by his family through investments in the East India Company. Latterly the castle was only used during the shooting season. In the 1960s it was decided not to repair the extensive dry rot
Dry rot
Dry rot refers to a type of wood decay caused by certain types of fungi, also known as True Dry Rot, that digests parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness...
and it was abandoned. The castle then stood empty until 2007, during which time its condition deteriorated to point of endangering the structure. Balintore Castle has been listed in the Scottish Civic Trust Buildings at Risk Register since it started in 1990. Angus Council used its compulsory purchase powers to buy it from its absentee Far Eastern owners, and it is now in the hands of a Scotsman who intends to restore it and use it as a residence.