Description

The monument consists of the remains of Moncur Castle, a fortified residence of late sixteenth century date. The building is Z-plan, the main wing lying NW-SE, with a square tower projecting NE and a drum tower at the SW angle. It measures 22m NW-SE by 14m NE-SW over walls 1m thick and 10m high. The castle has had a vaulted ground floor which held the kitchen and cellar. The vaulting survives in the S cellar and in the first and ground floors of the round tower.

The first floor contained the hall and private apartments: access to the floor above was by a newel stair-tower, with winders tucked between the drum tower and the SW wall and rising from the ground floor. The main entrance is in the re-entrant angle of the square tower, whence a staircase (fallen) led to the hall. A stone drain lies in the SW wall, and only the jambs of the kitchen fire-place and the remains of an oven survive in the NW wall.

The hall has a wide rear-projecting fire-place in the NE wall. The ground floor is provided with low set gun-loops and small windows for defence. The area to be scheduled is irregular and extends 2m from the exterior walls of the castle, measuring a maximum of 26m NW-SE by 18m NE-SW as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance because it is a good example of a house built by a member of the Scottish nobility with defensive needs in mind but also with regard to comfort and elegance in its layout and design. As such it provides evidence and has the potential to provide further evidence, through excavation, which may shed light on the development of baronial architecture, culture and society, domestic and defensive settlement and material culture in Scotland during the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO 22 NE 2.

References:

MacGibbon D and Ross T 1887-92, Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Vol. 2, 269-70, Edinburgh.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland