Castle Menzies 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...

 is the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies

Clan Menzies

For Menzies as a personal name, including its pronunciation and a list of famous people of that name, see Menzies.Clan Menzies ; , a member is a Mèinnearach) is a Highland Scottish clan.-Origins of the Clan:...

. It is located a little to the west of the small village of Weem

Weem

Weem is a village on the B846 near Aberfeldy in Perthshire, Scotland.The name Weem is derived from the Gaelic uaimh, meaning 'cave'....

, near Aberfeldy in the Highlands

Scottish Highlands

The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...

 of Perthshire

Perthshire

Perthshire, officially the County of Perth , is a registration county in central Scotland. It extends from Strathmore in the east, to the Pass of Drumochter in the north, Rannoch Moor and Ben Lui in the west, and Aberfoyle in the south...

, and was formerly known as Weem Castle.

History

The sixteenth-century castle, restored by the Menzies Clan Society, was the seat of the Chiefs of Clan Menzies for over 400 years. Strategically situated, it was involved in the turbulent history of the Highlands. Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Stuart

House of Stuart

The House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...

 Pretender to the throne, rested for two nights in the Castle on his way to the Battle of Culloden

Culloden

Culloden may refer to any of the following:*Culloden, Highland, a village in Scotland**The Battle of Culloden, a battle which took place there in 1746...

 in 1746. The restoration of the ancient part of the castle involved the demolition of a greatly decayed 18th century wing. A large Victorian ballroom was, however, retained.

The restored castle is an example of architectural transition between an earlier tradition of rugged fortresses and a later one of lightly defensible 'châteaux'. The walls are of random rubble, originally harled (roughcast), but the quoins, turrets and door and window surrounds are of finely carved blue freestone. This attractive and extremely hard-weathering stone was also used for the architectural details and monuments at the nearby Old Kirk of Weem, which was built by the Menzies family and contains their monuments and funeral hatchments. A marriage stone

Marriage stone

A marriage stone is usually a stone lintel carved with the initials, coat of arms, etc. of a newly married couple with the date of the marriage. They were very popular until Victorian times, but fell out of general use in the 20th century...

 faces the entrance, installed by James Menzies in 1571 to record his marriage to Barbara Stewart, daughter of the Earl of Atholl

Earl of Atholl

The Mormaer of Earl of Atholl refers to a medieval comital lordship straddling the highland province of Atholl , now in northern Perthshire. Atholl is a special Mormaerdom, because a King of Atholl is reported from the Pictish period. The only other two Pictish kingdoms to be known from...

.

Maharaja Dalip Singh, last Maharajah of the Sikh Empire, lived at Castle Menzies between 1855 and 1858, following his exile from the Punjab in 1854. He was officially the ward

Ward (law)

In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...

of Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login, who leased the castle for him.

External links

• Clan Menzies Website