Description

The monument comprises the fragmented remains of Struthers Castle which once formed the nucleus of an extensive architectural landscape, together with a doocot to the W, terraced gardens to the E and a fine, enclosed park. The castle was the seat of the Lindsay family from the late 14th century to the mid 19th century.

The most substantial surviving fragment, the 16th-century NE gable, incorporates that of an earlier hall-house. At the angles of the gable, massive buttresses project outwards on which bartizans once stood, although only the lower mouldings now remain. Running at right angles to the range represented by this gable is the surviving S wall of another, contemporary, range characterised by large, round-headed windows inserted in the 18th century.

The lower courses of the W wall of this range are still visible. At the W of the site, a free-standing buttress is associated with the now completely lost W wing. To the south, the remains of outbuildings are outlined by scarps. The doocot is rectangular in shape, unroofed, with a single rat course and many of the nesting boxes still in situ.

The area to be scheduled is irregular in plan with maximum dimensions of 95m NW-SE by 100m NE-SW to include the castle, doocot and surrounding area where remains of the terraced gardens are likely to survive below ground. The surface of the track which runs NW-SE across the site is excluded from the scheduling.

The boundary follows the line of the stone dyke enclosing the pasture within which the remains stand, as marked in red on the accompanying map. The enclosing dyke is itself is not to be scheduled.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

The monument is of national importance as the remains of an imposing, and architecturally complex, castle associated with a substantial architectural landscape incorporating the standing remains of a 16th-century doocot and evidence of terraced gardens. It has considerable potential to provide important information about domestic architecture and land-use over several centuries.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS records the monument as NO 30 NE 2.

Reference:

MacGibbon and Ross, Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, Vol. iii, 353-355.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland