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Strathenry/Strathendry/Strathendrie
Strathendry Castle, now superseded by a modern mansion, is a late 16th
century tower which has been restored, occupied, and in a good state of
preservation. It is oblong on plan, measuring 39' by 26' externally,
with a circular stair tower projecting 13 1/2' from the centre of the N
wall; it probably replaces an earlier, smaller stair in the same
position.
The building stands 3 storeys and an attic high. There is a draw-well in
the courtyard to the S of the tower.
The property was owned by Strathendry of that Ilk from an early date,
till 1496, when it passed to the Forresters, and 200 years later, to the
Douglases, then to the Clephanes in 1882.
In the 1700's, the Douglases of Kirkness acquired the castle through
marriage(2).
In the 1750's ~ The young Adam Smith (1), later Author
of "The Wealth of Nations" is kidnapped from the castle by a party of
gypsies.
Strathendry Castle is a rectangular keep of three
storeys and an attic with a projecting round stair tower. A
corbelled-out parapet, with open rounds at each end, crowns one side.
Many windows have been enlarged, and others have been sealed. In the
courtyard is a round well, and 19th century ranges of buildings.
The original entrance is in the foot of the stair-tower, but there is
also a later doorway. The basement has been vaulted and contained the
kitchen with a wide fireplace. The first and second floors have two
chambers, each with moulded fireplaces.
On the north elevation,
there is a door below an angled projecting porch and fanlight surmounted
by monogram of member of Douglas family flanked by date 1699.
The
avenue of hazel trees to the north appear on Blaeu's map as an old
Scottish Highway leading to Falkland.
Beyond the current west boundary stand the remains of a walled garden.
William Burn, 1824, with circa 1900 additions by Henry F Kerr and
removal of rear wing 20th century. 2-storey with basement, substantial
Jacobethan country house with round-headed gable to main entrance and
gabled windows at 1st floor with blind arrow slits. Dressed ashlar with
long and short quoins, stone mullions and chamfered arrises; hoodmoulds
continuous with string course at ground floor, eaves course; central
stairhead cupola surrounded by roof pitches not visible from ground.
It is the home of the MacIver Society. The present (20220 laird is Iain A
Maciver of Strathendry FBDO, Laird of Eilean Chearstaigh.
Strathenry/Strathendry/Strathendrie House, as it is variously called, was built
for Robert Douglas Esq. local landowner, and is described in the New
Statistical Account as "a very handsome building, in the style of the
old English manor house of Queen Elizabeth's time". William Burn's
drawings show the W elevation with both gables corbelled and chimneyed;
a plan of the kitchen court shows the area now demolished. Burn was also
engaged in alterations to Strathendry Castle in 1824. It is reported in
the 1865-71 survey that Mr Douglas discovered several blackened holes in
the ground which are believed to be Roman cooking places, a Roman coin
was found in garden ground nearby.
See also:
• Douglas of
Strathendry
Notes:
1. Adam Smith, author of the Inquiry into the
Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, was the son of Adam Smith,
comptroller
of the customs at Kirkaldy, and of Margaret Douglas, d1784, daughter of
Mr John Douglas of Strathenry, a considerable landed proprietor in Fife.
He was the only child of the marriage, and was born at Kirkaldy on the
5th of June 1723, a few months after the death of his father.
2. There was an earlier link: Sir George Douglas of Kirkness, d1609, 4th son of
William, 6th earl of Morton,
is the first Douglas
of Kirkness, in Kinross. He married (1597) Margaret Forrester,
daughter of Thomas Forrester of Strathendry.
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