Herbertshire Castle: A Scottish Fifteenth-Century Residence and Stronghold
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.1
- Popularity
- Low
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval
- Civilizations
- Kingdom of Scotland
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page7 sections
History
Herbertshire Castle was a fifteenth-century castle in the United Kingdom, near Dunipace and Denny in central Scotland. It stood within the feudal Barony of Herbertshire and is traditionally said to have served as a royal hunting station. The castle’s documented history begins in the later medieval period, when the Sinclair family held the estate.
The Barony and Its Medieval Lords
The name Herbertshire is associated with Herbert de Camera, a medieval landholder who gave land at Dunipace to Cambuskenneth Abbey, a major Scottish religious foundation near Stirling, around 1200. The lands then lay within the Barony of Dunipace, a feudal territorial lordship. After Herbert’s donations, Herbertshire became the principal remaining barony. The name emerged sometime after the Wars of Scottish Independence, while the area remained within the county of Stirling.
The early lairds, or proprietors of the estate, were the de Morehams. After Sir Thomas de Moreham’s two sons died in the wars, his granddaughter inherited the barony and married John Gifford. Their youngest daughter, Elizabeth, later married John Douglas, son of James, Lord Douglas. The estate passed to the couple during the reign of David II, king of Scots from 1329 to 1371, and their charter contains the first recorded use of the name Herbertshire.
John Douglas was killed on the order of Sir David Barclay of Brechin before Shrove Tuesday in 1350. By 1369, the estate belonged to Archibald, Earl Douglas. After his son William, Lord of Nithsdale, married a daughter of King Robert II, the lands were granted to the couple. In 1407, their daughter Egidia and her husband, Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Lord of Rosslyn, inherited the estate.
Construction and Later Ownership
The castle was built during the period of Sinclair ownership. Its construction is also attributed, probably around 1474, to William Sinclair, 1st Earl of Caithness, a fifteenth-century Scottish nobleman. A charter from 1474 refers to “the lands and barony of Herbertshire with the castle and fortalice thereof.” A fortalice was a fortified residence or stronghold, and this charter provides the first documentary reference to a castle at Herbertshire.
Alexander Livingstone, 1st Earl of Linlithgow, bought the estate in 1608 and sold it in 1632 to John Stirling, son of William Stirling of Achyle. The property subsequently belonged to William Stirling of Herbertshire in the 1660s, George Stirling of Herbertshire in the 1690s, and John Stirling of Herbertshire, who died in 1754.
In 1768, John Stirling’s daughter Jean Stirling, wife of James Erskine, Lord Alva, sold the estate to William Morehead. Morehead was one of the founders of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. The castle remained with the Morehead family for at least two generations before another William Morehead sold it in 1835 to William Forbes, 2nd of Callendar, a Conservative Member of Parliament for Stirlingshire.
The Forbes Residence and the 1914 Fire
The Forbes family retained Herbertshire Castle for the rest of its existence. During the late nineteenth century, the building operated for a time as a boarding school before returning to use as the Forbes family residence.
A catastrophic fire began before 5 a.m. on 20 December 1914 while the household was asleep. Most of the 24 occupants escaped, but three people died. They were the visiting sisters Cynthia and Clare Graham, aged 14 and 16, and Rachel Littlejohn, Mrs Forbes’s companion and the daughter of a distinguished Edinburgh professor. Their bedrooms were on the upper floors, where the windows were barred and no available ladder could reach them.
The Forbes daughters Louise, Agnes, Margaret, and Marion, who were between 10 and 16 years old, were rescued from the turret by ladder. Two maids escaped by leaping across a 22-foot gap to an adjoining roof. The fire could be seen for many miles because of the castle’s elevated position.
The blaze gutted the building. Herbertshire Castle remained a ruin until its demolition in the 1950s, and the grounds survive as Herbertshire Castle Park, also known as Denny Gala Park.
Remains
Setting and Architectural Form
Herbertshire Castle stood on elevated ground on the north bank of the River Carron, approximately 50 metres above sea level. Its setting was described as very beautiful, and the building formed a landmark visible for miles. The castle was an L-plan structure made of rendered masonry, with a large, lofty appearance.
The main part was a four-storey rectangular tower with battlements. In 1889, the building was measured at approximately 63 feet 6 inches in length, including the wing, and 43 feet 8 inches in breadth. The smaller limb of the L-shaped plan was approximately 26 feet 2 inches wide and appears to have projected about 12 feet.
Surviving Ground Evidence
The 1914 fire left the castle as a gutted ruin, and demolition in the 1950s removed the building itself. Within the former grounds, the surviving physical evidence consists of an area of low scarps and shallow depressions.
