Scotland · Still standing
Claypotts Castle
Claypotts Castle is a late-medieval Z-plan tower house in the West Ferry area of Dundee, Scotland, built in the later 16th century. It comprises a rectangular main block with projecting towers at opposite corners and is one of the best-preserved examples of its type, now cared for as an Ancient Monument.
Its prime
1588
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1588
The shape it held in its prime.
Late 16th-century Z-plan tower house of rough grey-brown rubble with ashlar dressings, consisting of a rectangular main block with massive projecting towers at opposite corners. The roofline is defined by steep pitched roofs and distinctive crow-stepped gables; small vertically aligned windows and narrow gunloops puncture the thick walls. The towers are rounded in section with few openings; stone corbels and simple chimneys finish the silhouette. At prime the building stands complete with roofs and intact chimneys, set on a short grassy foreground.
Its story
The story of Claypotts Castle.
Claypotts was built by John Strachan around 1569–1588, the dates inscribed on its stones suggesting an unusually long construction for so small a building. The Strachan family had leased the land from the Tironensian Abbey of Lindores since the early 16th century. The result is a Z-plan tower house — projecting towers at opposite corners of a rectangular main block, letting defenders fire along both faces — though at its domestic scale it is unlikely to have had much of a defensive role.
In 1601 the Strachans sold the castle to Sir William Graham of Ballunie, who later sold it to Sir William Graham of Claverhouse. It became the property of the Duke of Douglas, whose death in 1761 triggered an eight-year legal battle before the courts ruled Archibald Douglas to be heir. Ownership later passed by marriage to the 13th Earl of Home, who gave the castle to the state in 1926.
Now surrounded by modern housing in Dundee's suburban West Ferry, Claypotts is one of the best-preserved examples of a 16th-century Z-plan tower house in Scotland, maintained as an Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1588.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Claypotts Castle — including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more photos, more angles and more rooms of the immersive experience.
Create History
Recreate Claypotts Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1588 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate Castle to Explore →Whose castle
Clans who held Claypotts Castle.
The families that held Claypotts Castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
Strachan
The Strachan family leased the land from the Abbey of Lindores from the early 16th century, built the tower c.1569–1588, and sold it in 1601.
Bought by Sir William Graham of Ballunie in 1601, later sold to Sir William Graham of Claverhouse.
Property of the Duke of Douglas; after his death in 1761, an eight-year legal battle ended with the courts ruling Archibald Douglas heir.
Home
Passed by marriage to the 13th Earl of Home, who gave the castle to the state in 1926.
