Lordscairnie Castle

Lordscairnie Castle – situated on the outskirts of Fife near Moonzie – was built between 1493 and 1498 by Sir Alexander Lindsay, seventh Earl of Crawford. The forlorn ruins are being sold for around £200,000, with selling agent Smiths Gore hoping to find an ‘emotional purchaser’ ready to take on the castle’s challenges.

At the time the castle was built, Sir Lindsay was one of the most powerful noblemen in Scotland, with the castle acting as an important centre for Clan Lindsay’s operations and aspirations in central Scotland. Its colourful history includes castle raids, house arrests, conflicts with the Bishop of St Andrews and a visit by James V of Scotland just before his death in 1542.

The castle was abandoned in the mid 17th Century and was utilised by the local congregation as a church until the end of the 17th Century. Unoccupied since then, ownership was transferred to the Earl of Glasgow in the 1840s, then by a succession of local farmers before it became the property of the existing owner.

According to local lore, treasure was hidden in the castle, but to date nothing of significant value has come to light. The ghost of Sir Lindsay is also said to haunt the castle on New Years Eve. His ghost can be seen playing cards with the devil at midnight on December 31, though anyone watching it will travel to hell with them at the end of the match.

The B listed castle sits in 30 acres of open countryside at the foot of Colluthie Valley. The grounds also include a large pond, said to be home to about 50 different species of birds. The castle walls are 6 feet thick in many places and when restored the castle could be up to five stories tall, rising to a level of 65 feet. Smiths Gore has estimated that restoration would cost £600,000 to £1 million on top of the purchase price.

Lordscairnie Castle Property Listing

Cavers Castle

A slightly more ambitious restoration project is also available for purchase near the Borders. Cavers Castle, once a 64-room 100,000 acre residence, was the seat of Clan Douglas for more than 300 years. Today much of the land has been sold  – 11 acres remain – and all that remains of the castle is the east wing, but only as an empty shell.

The castle was constructed around 1200 and first inhabited by the Balliols. Clan Douglas, instrumental in banishing the Balliols from Scotland, were granted the lands by David II of Scotland in 1352. Sir Archibald Douglas, 3rd Earl of Douglas was responsible for the construction of Cavers Tower, a traditional fortified Scottish tower, on the site of the original castle after he succeeded to the earldom when James Douglas fell at the Battle of Otterburn in 1388.

In 1542 Cavers was burnt by Dacre with the help of Sir Walter Scott of Branxholm, and in 1545 it figures in a list of places “brent, raced, and cast doune” during the War of Rough Wooing. Cavers House was inhabited by a branch of the black Douglas family until the twentieth descendent, James Douglas died in 1878 leaving no male heir. The property passed to his niece Mary Malcolm who married Captain Edward Palmer in 1879 and the property was substantially re-modelled as Cavers House between 1881 and 1887.

Cavers House in better days, circa 1887

The house eventually became disused and was made available to the army for use in a demolition by explosives exercise in 1953. The army were partially successful in destroying the Victorian section but made little impact on the thick 11-feet thick walls of the older medieval section.

Cavers Castle Property Listing

Cavers Castle on Google Maps – You can see the castle in the woods near Cavers Auld Kirk.

Cavers Tower Flickr Set - Contains fascinating photographs of the castle as it was in 2009. Also contains an interesting story about a witch who cursed the 17th Century Douglases.

The post For Sale: Two Castles, TLC Required appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

A big thank you to all 400+ of you who entered, and we at ScotClans hope you enjoyed it and had a good time testing your Scottish knowledge.

The post Kevin McIntyre wins Treasure Hunt appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The Lost Chalice of Alba

Well our search for The Lost Chalice of Alba is nearing it’s end.  From over 400 entrants only 18 have succeeded in giving us the correct answers.

People with the correct answers so far are:

S Stuart

M McLennan

K McIntyre

K Burns

K Kealoha

D Evans

D Grant

B Langworth

P Campbell

J Scott

D Amos

B Walker

M Farmer

A Malcolm

A Ross

S Fraser

JR Ross

L Goff

Well done to you all – you are truely great treasure hunters!

Oh and also Linda and Margaret in our office although they are not eligible to win.

For those of you who haven’t entered here are all the questions. See if you can locate the chalice.

First Question

The home of Cabarfiedh. Chief of an ancient Highland clan whose tartan was worn by one of Scotland’s most famous regiments, now part of the 4th battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland.

Second Question

Home of one of Scotland’s most powerful families, whose coat of arms have a red rampant Lion of Scotland. The Chief of the family is the Hereditary Standard Bearer of the National Flag.

Third Question

This town witnessed the declaration of independence in 1320, and is the burial site for William the Lion who founded the Abbey. Today it’s fame is more closely associated with one of the country’s most iconic foods.

Fourth Question

Once a coastal coal mining terminal that predated the Steam engine. Home of the Postage stamp and the Tortoises.

Fifth Question – this is where the chalice is hidden

Where could you play a game of caich in this historic village?  They’ve been playing it here for a royal long time.

On a map, you have to draw a line between your answer to question 1 and question 2, then another line between your answer to question 3 and question 4, the point they cross at should be the answer to question 5. This is where the Chalice of Alba is hidden.

We plan to send out a tie breaker question to all the people who have submitted the correct answers on Friday. the first person who finds the location, wins the prize.

So if you rush you can still sign up >

The post The Lost Chalice of Alba is close to being found! appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.

The wonderful Stag Head prize that’ll go to one lucky winner

Put Your Knowledge of Scotland to the Test

ScotClans has joined forces with Panalba to challenge you to a quest – to find the location of The Lost Chalice of Alba. Find the chalice and win the unique prize.

Dare you undertake The Quest to find the ‘Lost Chalice of Alba’? To do so you will have to answer a series of challenging questions on Scottish heritage, geography and history.

The answer to each of the questions points to a location in Scotland, in true treasure hunt style – X marks the spot where the treasure is hidden – by joining lines between these locations, discover the point where they cross to locate the treasure – sounds easy doesn’t it? But beware, the answers might not be as straight forward as you think. We will be sending out a series of clues to each question via email, facebook and twitter. To help look out for compass icon on www.scotclans.com, they will be hidden around the site and signify that something important may be on that page, but watch out, it could be a red herring!

The questions will be discussed on Panalba, at the Treasure Hunt Group, so join forces with other people – it might help.

So don your tartan explorer hat and Good luck and happy hunting, just sign up to be taken to the first question!

The post The Great ScotClans Treasure Hunt appeared first on ScotClans | Scottish Clans.