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
What Claypotts Castle looked like 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.
John Strachan's Z-Plan Tower, 1569-1588
Claypotts was built by John Strachan around 1569-1588, the dates taken from inscriptions on stones in the fabric, which make the work unusually long for so small a building. The ground under it had been leased by the Strachan family from the Tironensian Abbey of Lindores since the early 16th century.
What Strachan raised was a Z-plan tower house: projecting towers at opposite sides of a rectangular main block, a design popular in the 16th century that let defenders fire along the faces of the block from both towers. Given the domestic scale of the place, it is unlikely Claypotts ever had much of a defensive role.
The Grahams of Claverhouse, 1601-1689
In 1601 the Strachans sold the castle to Sir William Graham of Ballunie, who later sold it on to Sir William Graham of Claverhouse. It passed to the crown in 1689, after the death of its then owner John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee, at the battle of Killiecrankie.
The Douglas Inheritance Case, 1694-1769
In 1694 Claypotts was given to James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas, and it later became the property of his son, the Duke of Douglas. The duke's death in 1761 opened a legal battle over the inheritance that ran for the next eight years, until the courts ruled Archibald Douglas to be heir.
The 13th Earl of Home Gives It to the State, 1926 Onwards
Ownership afterwards passed by marriage to the 13th Earl of Home, who gave the castle to the state in 1926. It was scheduled as a monument on 30 November 1981, and is maintained as an Ancient Monument by Historic Environment Scotland, now ringed by the modern housing of Dundee's West Ferry and reckoned one of the best-preserved 16th-century Z-plan tower houses in Scotland.
One story clings to the house rather than to its owners: a legend that an industrious brownie once helped the servants with their work here, and left in disgust because of a lazy kitchen maid.
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 explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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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.
Nearby
