Inverquharity Castle is a 15th-century

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

in Angus, Scotland. It lies around north-east of

Kirriemuir Kirriemuir, sometimes called Kirrie or the ''Wee Red Toon'' ( gd, An Ceathramh Mòr; IPA: nˈkʰʲɛɾəvmoːɾ, is a burgh in Angus, Scotland. It reaches back to earliest recorded times, when it is thought to have been a major ecclesiastical ...

near the

River South Esk :''Note: the southern headwater of the River Esk in Lothian is also known as the South Esk.'' The South Esk ( gd, Easg Dheas) is a river in Angus, Scotland. It rises in the Grampian Mountains at Loch Esk in Glen Doll and flows through Glen Clo ...

. The lands of Inverquharity came to the Ogilvie family around 1420. The castle was first constructed as a rectangular tower in the 1440s, by Alexander Ogilvie, 2nd Lord Inverquharity. In the 16th century a wing was added to form a four-storey

L-plan castle An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other locations ...

. In 1445 a dispute between Alexander Ogilvy of Inverquharity and the son of the

Earl of Crawford Earl of Crawford is one of the most ancient extant titles in Great Britain, having been created in the Peerage of Scotland for Sir David Lindsay in 1398. It is the premier earldom recorded on the Union Roll. Early history Sir David Lindsay, who ...

from nearby

Finavon Castle Finavon Castle lies on the River South Esk, about a quarter of a mile south of Milton of Finavon village and five miles to the north-east of Forfar in Angus, Scotland. The name is applied both to a ruined 17th-century castle (contemporarily re ...

culminated in the Battle of Arbroath in which Ogilvy and the Earl were killed. In the late 18th century, the tower was sold by the 5th Ogilvy Baronet, and the wing demolished. The castle decayed until the 1960s, when it was restored and the wing rebuilt. The original 15th-century

yett A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mecha ...

, or iron gate, is still in place. In 2014, a BBC documentary followed the sale of the castle from the owners who had restored and lived there for the previous 40 years. It sold in 2012 for £611,000 and this category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

remains a private family home.

References

External links

* * {{coord, 56, 42, 34, N, 2, 57, 48, W, region:GB, display=title Castles in Angus, Scotland Category A listed buildings in Angus, Scotland Listed castles in Scotland Towers in Scotland Lowland castles

See also

References

External links