Castle Menzies

Castle Menzies in Scotland is the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies and the Menzies Baronets. It is located a little to the west of the small village of Weem, near Aberfeldy in the Highlands of Perthshire, close to the former site of Weem Castle, destroyed c. 1502.

The sixteenth-century castle, built as a Z-plan castle, was the seat of the chiefs of clan Menzies for over 500 years. Strategically situated, it was involved in the turbulent history of the highlands.

A marriage stone above the original entrance was installed by James Menzies in 1371, to record his marriage to Barbara Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 3rd Earl of Atholl and Jean Forbes.

In 1598 John Dow MacWilliam alias MacGregor broke into the castle to rescue a thief Donald Menzies from the dungeons. The owner, Alexander Menzies of Weem complained that John Murray of Tullibardine had then welcomed Donald Menzies and MacGregor as his household men and servants.

Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Stuart pretender to the throne, rested for two nights in the castle on his way to the battle of Culloden in 1746.

In 1840 an entirely new wing was added, designed by William Burn using stone from the same quarry on south side of Loch Tay.

Duleep Singh, last maharajah of the Sikh Empire, lived at Castle Menzies between 1855 and 1858, following his exile from the Punjab in 1854. He was officially the ward of Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login, who leased the castle for him.

Sir Robert Menzies, 7th Baronet inherited the estate in 1844. On Sunday 21 April 1878 around 7pm a fire broke out in the roof of the castle. It was spotted by a man passing along the road who raised the alarm. Sir Robert and Lady Menzies were away at Farleyer, but word was sent and they returned immediately. Local efforts managed to keep the fire under control, and by 10pm when the fire engine from Taymouth Castle arrived, the fire was nearly extinguished. The excitement was thought to have affected the health of Lady Menzies, and she died the following month.

Sir Neil Menzies, 8th Baronet, inherited the estate in 1903 but died without heirs in 1910. In 1913 the house contents were auctioned and in 1914 the papers were sold at Sotheby's for £1,160. £300 was paid for a letter of Mary Queen of Scots to the Laird of Weym dated Drymmen, in Menteith, 31 August 1566 and relating to the Macgregors of Rannoch.

Text adapted from “Castle Menzies” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Castle Menzies ranks #2,433 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #84 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded c. 1550, it is older than 39% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 1,723 times in the last 60 days, more than 63% of the atlas. 2 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Dundee, 60 km away. It is one of the 57 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of the Scottish Highlands. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗