Harviestoun is an estate in

Tillicoultry Tillicoultry ( ; Scottish Gaelic: Tulach Cultraidh, perhaps from older Gaelic ''Tullich-cul-tir'', or "the mount/hill at the back of the country") is a town in Clackmannanshire, Scotland. Tillicoultry is usually referred to as Tilly by the loc ...

parish,

Clackmannanshire Clackmannanshire (; sco, Clackmannanshire; gd, Siorrachd Chlach Mhannainn) is a historic county, council area, registration county and Lieutenancy area in Scotland, bordering the council areas of Stirling, Fife, and Perth & Kinross and the hi ...

, central Scotland. It lies at the base of the

Ochil Hills The Ochil Hills (; gd, Monadh Ochail is a range of hills in Scotland north of the Forth valley bordered by the towns of Stirling, Alloa, Kinross, Auchterarder and Perth. The only major roads crossing the hills pass through Glen Devon/ Glen ...

, around east of Tillicoultry and west of

Dollar Dollar is the name of more than 20 currencies. They include the Australian dollar, Brunei dollar, Canadian dollar, Hong Kong dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian dollar, Namibian dollar, New Taiwan dollar, New Zealand dollar, Singapore dollar, U ...

History

The Harviestoun estate was bought in around 1780 by Edinburgh lawyer John Tait. It was during a visit to Harviestoun in the summer of 1787 that

Robert Burns Robert Burns (25 January 175921 July 1796), also known familiarly as Rabbie Burns, was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who hav ...

met Charlotte Hamilton, who inspired his poem "Fairest Maid on Devon Banks". A commemorative cairn on the main road (now the A91) marks his visit. Harviestoun Castle was built in 1804 by Craufurd Tait (1765–1832) after inheriting the estate from his father in 1800. In 1805 Tait purchased

Dollar Glen Dollar Glen is a small glen (valley) owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is located in the Ochils that dramatically mark the Scottish Highlands, Highland fault. It is near the town of Dollar, Scotland in the county of Clackmannanshire. It ...

, including the 15th-century

Castle Campbell Castle Campbell is a medieval castle situated above the town of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, in central Scotland. It was the lowland seat of the earls and dukes of Argyll, chiefs of Clan Campbell, from the 15th to the 19th century, and was visited ...

from the

Duke of Argyll Duke of Argyll ( gd, Diùc Earraghàidheil) is a title created in the peerage of Scotland in 1701 and in the peerage of the United Kingdom in 1892. The earls, marquesses, and dukes of Argyll were for several centuries among the most powerful ...

. He also constructed a new home farm, coach house and walled garden. Craufurd Tait died in 1832 and was buried in the private family graveyard, now known as Tait's Tomb, located on the north bank of the River Devon midway between Dollar and Tillicoultry at a point originally with romantic views both up and downstream, until this loop of the river was diverted during construction of the

Devon Valley Railway The Devon Valley Railway linked Alloa and Kinross in central Scotland, along a route following the valley of the River Devon. Its construction took 20 years from the first section opening in 1851, to the final section in 1871. Three railway ...

in 1869 leaving the graveyard now oddly stranded in the landscape. Craufurd's youngest son

Archibald Tait Archibald Campbell Tait (21 December 18113 December 1882) was an Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England and theologian. He was the first Scottish Archbishop of Canterbury and thus, head of the Church of England. Life Tait was bor ...

(1811–1882), who was later

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, spent much of his boyhood at Harviestoun. Businessman and former

Lord Provost of Glasgow The Right Honourable Lord Provost of Glasgow is the convener of the Glasgow City Council. Elected by the city councillors, the Lord Provost serves not only as the chair of that body, but as a figurehead for the entire city. The office is equiv ...

Sir Andrew Orr Sir Andrew Orr (1801–1872) was a Scottish wholesale stationer who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1854 to 1857. Life He was born in Glasgow in 1801 the son of Francis Orr, originally a pocket book maker at 15 Princes Street but later the ...

(1802–1874) bought the estate in 1859. He added a new tower and porch to the castle, in pink sandstone, and formed two approaches, one leading from Tillicoultry, the other from the East Lodge, situated about one mile west of Dollar.

20th century

After fire destroyed much of the Playfair building at nearby

Dollar Academy Dollar Academy, founded in 1818 by John McNabb, is an independent co-educational day and boarding school in Scotland. The open campus occupies a site in the centre of Dollar, Clackmannanshire, at the foot of the Ochil Hills. Overview As of 20 ...

in 1961, Harviestoun Castle acted briefly as a satellite for Prep (Primary) School classes, as secondary school pupils occupied the Preparatory School building. Much of the castle was 'out of bounds' due to structural problems (possibly dry rot), but was a popular home for pupils of that era, according to accounts in school magazines. The grounds featured extensive gardens framed by two

giant sequoia ''Sequoiadendron giganteum'' (giant sequoia; also known as giant redwood, Sierra redwood, Sierran redwood, California big tree, Wellingtonia or simply big treea nickname also used by John Muir) is the sole living species in the genus ''Sequoiade ...

trees on the south lawn, and extensive plantings of rhododendron and bamboo. The castle was demolished in 1970. For a period in the 1970s a small private coal mine operated on the estate.

References

External links

Harviestoun Castle
Tillicoultry.org.uk {{coord , 56.162, N, 3.717, W, region:GB, display=title Clackmannanshire