Pitfour Castle is an 18th-century country house situated on the southeast edge of the village of St Madoes in the

Carse of Gowrie The Carse of Gowrie is a stretch of low-lying country in the southern part of Gowrie, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It stretches for about along the north shore of the Firth of Tay between Perth and Dundee. The area offers high-quality agricultu ...

, Perthshire, Scotland. It is a 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 ...

History

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 ...

was formerly sited slightly closer to the River Tay, although nothing now remains. In June 1592 Harry Lindsay and 40 armed followers attacked the "Place of Pitfour" at night. They hid themselves close to the house and sent a messenger boy to get the yard gates or "yetts" opened. The trick worked but David Cochrane's defenders beat them back and closed the gates. Lindsay's men then managed to break into the castle, and forced the family and their retainers out, and put in his own men under his servant John Tweedy. The present Pitfour Castle was built for John Richardson (1760–1821), a wealthy local man involved with the salmon fisheries of the Tay, around 1784. The design of the new house is attributed to the architect

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

(1728–1792): although there is no documentary evidence for his involvement, there are stylistic similarities with Adam's later "castle-style" homes, such as

Dalquharran Castle Dalquharran Castle is a category A listed building in South Ayrshire, Scotland, designed by Robert Adam and completed around 1790. The first recorded lord of the property which already included a castle, was Gilbert Kennedy, as stated in a 1474 Ch ...

in Ayrshire (1786) and

Seton Castle Seton Castle is an 18th-century Georgian castle in East Lothian, Scotland. The castle was Robert Adam's final project in Scotland. History Seton Castle was built in the late 1700s on the site of Seton Palace, which was demolished in 1789. The ...

in Lothian (1789). In 1825, the house was enlarged to designs by

William Burn William Burn (20 December 1789 – 15 February 1870) was a Scottish architect. He received major commissions from the age of 20 until his death at 81. He built in many styles and was a pioneer of the Scottish Baronial Revival,often referred ...

, with a library to the north-west and a clock tower to the south-west. By the 1860s the house was occupied and owned by Sir John Stewart-Richardson (who had adopted the additional name of Stewart on inheritance of his grandfather, James Stewart's, Urrard estate) together with his family. Having fallen into disrepair, restoration work on Pitfour Castle began in 1964. In 1966, Burn's entrance hall was removed, revealing Adam's original entrance front. The house and was advertised for sale in 1967 for £25,000. In July 1969, as restoration was nearing completion, the east wing was badly damaged by fire. In 1974 it was purchased by Lord Leslie Charles Field who at the time owned Walton Hall, Warwickshire. The Castle was rescued from demolition and restored back to its former glory to be used by the family of Lord Field for holidays. At the end of the 70’s the castle was subdivided into individual apartments and sold. The stable block has also been converted into a series of two storey dwelling houses, which along with the lodge house, are also privately owned. Some of the apartments are available to rent on short-assured tenancy agreements.

Interior

The curved staircase forms the centrepiece of the house. In the 1967 sale particulars, this was described as a "fine circular wrought iron staircase rising through the house to a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, fro ...

with painted cartoons by Ritchie".''Country Living'' Property Supplement, 13 July 1967, p.12 Historic Scotland refers to these cartoons as "figure panels by Zucchi", an Italian who worked with Robert Adam. Prior to its subdivision, the house had 12 principal bedrooms, four bathrooms, five reception rooms and staff accommodation.

References

{{coord, 56.3738, -3.2976, display=title, region:GB_scale:10000 Category A listed buildings in Perth and Kinross Houses in Perth and Kinross