Dowhill Castle

Dowhill Castle
Perth and Kinross, Scotland
Ruins of Dowhill Castle (first storey)
Dowhill Castle is located in Perth and Kinross
Dowhill Castle
Dowhill Castle
Coordinates56°09′37″N 3°25′19″W / 56.1604°N 3.4219°W / 56.1604; -3.4219
TypeCastellated square peel tower and barmkin
Site information
OwnerThe Dowhill estate
Open to
the public
No
ConditionRuined
Site history
Builtc.1500
MaterialsStone
Events
Official nameDowhill Castle
Designated22 June 1936
Reference no.SM997
Listed Building – Category B
Official nameDowhill Castle
Designated5 October 1971 to 16 December 2015
Reference no.LB5714

Dowhill Castle is a ruined castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland. Sited on a hill near Loch Leven, the oldest part of the castle was built in around 1500 as a tower house. The main structure was extended in around 1600 with additional living space, as well as a tower and turret. The castle had a fortified courtyard (barmkin) to the north with a separate tower. There were probably four storeys but only two still survive.

The site was owned for many years by the Crambeth family before it passed to the Lindsay family, who built the castle, at the end of the fourteenth century. A series of legal decisions impoverished the Lindsays and they were forced to sell their estate and castle to William Adam in the mid eighteenth century. Though still fit for use as a gentleman's residence, Adam used the castle to house labourers. The structure decayed into ruin and was given by Adam to his son Robert Adam. The latter Adam, an architect, is thought to have been inspired by the castle in his designs for Seton, Dalquharran, and Culzean castles. The stonework at Dowhill was quarried in the nineteenth century until only the ground floor and part of the first floor remained. The castle received protection as an ancient monument in 1936 and a listed building in 1971.