Claypotts Castle

The Strachans held the lands as tenants of Lindores Abbey before the Reformation. John Strachan’s building belongs to the reign of James VI. The dates 1569 and 1588 are carved on the gables, and his initials also survive in the stonework. They are evidence for the building’s late-sixteenth-century development, not necessarily proof of nineteen uninterrupted years of construction. A castle can acquire dated stones through successive campaigns, and the surviving evidence should not be made more precise than it is.

Claypotts is arranged on a Z-plan: round towers project from diagonally opposite corners of the main block. Above them, square rooms carried on projecting stonework create the distinctive change of shape near the roof. The effect is playful from a distance, but windows, stairs and fireplaces show practical domestic choices too. The original description of two round towers is sound; calling the whole building fragmentary is not.

The lower rooms are vaulted, and the hall occupied the floor above. HES describes a possible long gallery at the upper level, which remains an interpretation rather than a certainty. Gun openings around the base provided security, but this was not a great artillery fortress. The balance between protection, status and daily comfort matters more than an imagined sequence of sieges. No such military drama is needed to make the surviving house interesting.

John Strachan died in 1593. His family’s connection continued briefly before the lands were sold to William Graham of Ballunie in 1601. M R Apted’s documentary study distinguishes the generations of Strachans and records this sale. The estate later passed to the Grahams of Claverhouse. It is important not to confuse William Graham with his later descendant John Graham, Viscount Dundee, the Jacobite commander known as Bonnie Dundee. A famous subsequent owner should not eclipse the family who actually built the house.

Later occupation included farmworkers, and the surrounding estate buildings changed or disappeared. The castle entered state guardianship in 1926; guardianship is a more careful term than assuming an outright transfer of ownership. Today it is a scheduled monument cared for by Historic Environment Scotland. The designation and architectural records describe an unusually complete example of its type, while also noting lost ancillary buildings and alterations to the roofline.

An exterior visit rewards a slow circuit where access permits. Compare the circular lower towers with the square upper rooms, then look at how the entrance and windows fit the central block. The survival of the roof makes the building’s volume unusually legible, even without entering. Inside access depends on the arrangements advertised by HES, so it should not be assumed from photographs of furnished rooms. Claypotts is most revealing when seen as a small, carefully designed family residence whose architectural confidence has outlasted the estate around it.