Scotland · Ruin
Almond Castle
Almond Castle (formerly Haining Castle) is a ruined L-plan castle near Linlithgow in Falkirk, Scotland, originally built around 1470 with 16th-century extensions. The building has a vaulted basement, a first-floor hall, a kitchen in the wing, and once rose four storeys plus a garret. The ruin is unsound and is protected as a scheduled monument.
Its prime
1586
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1586
What Almond Castle looked like in its prime.
An L-plan stone castle rising four storeys plus a garret, with a main rectangular tower and a projecting south-west wing and an extended range along the south-east face added in the 16th century. Constructed of coursed grey masonry blocks, the long south-east wall contains the principal entrance which gave access to the first-floor hall. At its prime the silhouette was a compact tower-house cluster set within a small courtyard enclosed by a wall and ditch, topped by slate or lead roofs over the garret level.
Its story
The story of Almond Castle.
The estate originally belonged to the Crawford family, who built the castle in about 1470 — an L-plan tower three miles west of Linlithgow with a vaulted basement, a first-floor hall and a kitchen in the wing, rising four storeys and a garret. It was known as Haining Castle until the seventeenth century.
In about 1540 the castle passed by marriage to the Livingstones, who built an extension at the south-west. When James Livingstone was created Baron Livingstone of Almond in 1633, the castle's name was changed from Haining to Almond. The Livingstone Earls of Callendar forfeited it to the crown after the Jacobite rising of 1715.
A courtyard with wall and ditch encloses the remains of sixteenth-century buildings, and the entrance on the long south-east face gave access to the first floor. In 1783 the York Buildings Company sold the ruin to William Forbes. The structure is now unsound and protected as a scheduled monument.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1586.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Almond Castle — including 4 interiors: first-floor hall, vaulted basement, kitchen in the wing and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate Almond Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1586 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held Almond Castle.
The families that held Almond Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
The estate belonged to the Crawfords, who built the castle in about 1470 and held it until about 1540.
Livingstone
Held by the Livingstones from about 1540 by marriage until the Earls of Callendar forfeited it after the 1715 Jacobite rising.
Nearby
