Scotland · Still standing
Kinfauns Castle
Kinfauns Castle is a 19th-century castellated Gothic country house built 1822–1826 on the site of a medieval stronghold near Kinfauns, Perth and Kinross, Scotland. It stands on a raised south-facing terrace above the River Tay and is protected as a category A listed building; the estate includes a walled garden and gardener's cottage added in the early 20th century.
Its prime
1910
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1910
What Kinfauns Castle looked like in its prime.
An asymmetrical, castellated Gothic mansion with a crenellated roofline and several towers rising above tall chimney stacks, executed in pale ashlar masonry. The house sits on a raised south-facing terrace above the River Tay, surrounded by mixed woodland and parkland, with formal planted enclosures and a walled garden nearby; the roofline and battlements silhouette against low Perthshire hills, the whole estate threaded by drives and scattered specimen trees.
Its story
The story of Kinfauns Castle.
Robert the Bruce's Grant and the Ruthven Feud, 1313–1552
Thomas de Longueville was granted land east of Perth by Robert the Bruce in reward for his service at the capture of Perth in 1313. He married the heiress of Charteris of Kinfauns, took her family name, and built a castle on the granted lands. His descendants carried on a long-running feud with the Ruthvens of Perth, and in 1552 John Charteris was murdered by the Ruthvens on the High Street of Edinburgh.
From Charteris to Gray, 1552–1826
The estate passed from the Charterises to the Carnegies and then to the Blairs, entering the Gray family when Margaret Blair married the 11th Lord Gray in 1741. The present house — Castellated Gothic, with the slight asymmetry typical of Scottish Georgian — was designed by Sir Robert Smirke and built between 1822 and 1826 for Francis Gray, 14th Lord Gray, on the site of the medieval stronghold.
Railway Toll and the Earls of Moray, 1847–1930
In the build-up to the Dundee and Perth Railway's 1847 opening, Lord Gray would only allow the line through his estate for a then-hefty fee of £12,000. Kinfauns passed to the Stuart Earls of Moray in 1878 and descended to Morton Stuart, 17th Earl of Moray, who commissioned improvements including a walled garden and gardener's cottage designed by Francis William Deas in 1910. After his death in 1930 the estate became the property of Scottish Estates Ltd, which sold off most of the land piecemeal.
Category A Listing and Later Occupation
The house, on its raised terrace above the Tay, was listed category A in 1971, and its grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland. The Scottish businesswoman Ann Gloag, co-founder of the Stagecoach company, occupies the house and its remaining land.
Step inside
6 places to explore in 1910.
The record describes 6 distinct spots at Kinfauns 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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Recreate Kinfauns Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Kinfauns Castle.
The families that held Kinfauns Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Charteris
Early lairds of Kinfauns, descending from Thomas de Longueville's 1313 grant; John Charteris was murdered by the Ruthvens in 1552.
Held by the Lords Gray from Margaret Blair's 1741 marriage; the 14th Lord Gray built the present castle, 1822–26.
Held by the Stuart Earls of Moray, 1878–1930.
Nearby
