Ballumbie is a residential area on the north-east edge of Dundee

Dundee

Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...

, 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 area was formerly an estate centred on Ballumbie Castle, a mid-16th century fortification, which was followed by the 19th-century Ballumbie House. There is also a golf course and the site of a late medieval parish church. The castle and house are located just outside the City of Dundee, in 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...

.

Ballumbie Castle

Ballumbie Castle was built by the Lovell family.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government 'sponsored' [financed and with oversight] through Historic Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government...

 record the date of construction as 1545, although Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland

Historic Scotland is an executive agency of the Scottish Government, responsible for historic monuments in Scotland.-Role:As its website states:...

 give a date of 14th–15th century. The castle comprised a rectangular enclosure, approximately 21 metres (68.9 ft) on a side, with round corner towers, overlooking the Fithie Burn.

In the early 17th century it passed to the Maule family, who became Earls of Panmure

Earl of Panmure

Earl of Panmure was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1646 for Sir Patrick Maule, a former Gentleman of the Bedchamber to James VI and loyal follower of Charles I. He was made Lord Maule, Brechin and Navar at the same time, also in the Peerage of Scotland...

 in 1646. The castle was reported as being ruined by 1682, although the remaining east and south walls were later incorporated into the stable block of Ballumbie House. Today the castle is a ruin again, in private ownership. Access is prohibited beyond the castle's security fencing for reasons of personal safety.

The lands surrounding Ballumbie Castle are known as the Ballumbie Castle Estate, and Ballumbie Castle remains the caput

Caput

The Latin word caput, meaning literally "head" and by metonymy "top", has been borrowed in a variety of English words, including capital, captain, and decapitate...

 of this property. These are distinct from the lands of Ballumbie, which were last in the possession of Robert Williamson of Ballumbie, hence there is a Laird

Laird

A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...

 of Ballumbie Castle as well as a Laird of Ballumbie.

Ballumbie House

In 1810, Ballumbie House was constructed adjacent to the castle, for David Miller. It was a two-storey classical house, with an ice house and stable block, which incorporated the remaining parts of Ballumbie Castle. By 1902, the house was the property of Alexander Gilroy, a merchant, who commissioned architect James Findlay

James Leslie Findlay

James Leslie Findlay was a Scottish architect and soldier.James Leslie Findlay was the younger son of John Ritchie Findlay and Susan Leslie. He practiced as an architect in Edinburgh between 1885-1915. Initially apprenticed to A G Sydney Mitchell, he went into partnership with James Bow Dunn in 1894...

 to carry out alterations. The house was remodelled in an Arts and Crafts

Arts and Crafts movement

Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...

/Scottish Baronial style. It was converted for use as a hotel, operating from 1965 to 1981, after which a fire in 1982 gutted the building. After over twenty years as a roofless shell, the house was rebuilt as flats, while some 230 houses were constructed in the grounds.

Ballumbie parish church

First mentioned in 1470, the parish church of Ballumbie is last mentioned about a century later. Until recently its precise location remained unknown. Excavations carried out by SUAT Ltd in 2006 ahead of routine land-stripping for a new housing project uncovered burials associated with a stone building. The excavation revealed a simple rectangular stone building measuring 14 by, with both internal burials and an external graveyard.

A chantry

Chantry

Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...

 chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

 or laird's aisle measuring c. 4 metres (13.1 ft) square was attached to the south-east side. Such chapels allowed the laird

Laird

A Laird is a member of the gentry and is a heritable title in Scotland. In the non-peerage table of precedence, a Laird ranks below a Baron and above an Esquire.-Etymology:...

 and his family to be buried away from the commoners. In the case of Ballumbie, the lairds were probably the Lovell

Lovell

- People :* Alex Lovell, a British television presenter* Bernard Lovell, a British radio astronomer* Francis Lovell, 1st Viscount Lovell, a supporter of Richard III through the Wars of the Roses* Frank Lovell, an American communist politician...

 family at this time. This family are recorded as the feudal owners of Ballumbie during the 12th century and they may have been the beneficiaries of a Norman

Normans

The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...

-style plantation of new overlords by King David I

David I of Scotland

David I or Dabíd mac Maíl Choluim was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians and later King of the Scots...

. Their former castle stands about half a mile from the church, which they may have founded.

Excavations also revealed a previously unknown, Christian long cist

Cist

A cist from ) is a small stone-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead. Examples can be found across Europe and in the Middle East....

cemetery, underlying the medieval church buildings, containing the remains of several adults and children.