Description

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

1584, possibly incorporating earlier fabric; internally remodelled circa 1790; renovated circa 1970-1998 by Peter Nicholson, Nicholas Groves-Raines and Raymond Muszynski (working separately in succession). Z-plan tower house composed of rectangular, 3-storey and attic gabled main block with roughly circular 4-storey towers at E and W corners and circular bartizans corbelled out at 2nd floor to N and S corners. Circular stair towers are corbelled out from the 1st floor at the N re-entrant angles of the 2 towers. Edinample is an excellent example of a late 16th century Z-plan tower house and occupies a prominent position near the head of Loch Earn.

The E and W towers are the same height, or slightly lower than the main block, but the rooms they contain have lower ceilings, hence the extra storey. Both towers have broad, curved chimneystacks that rise uninterrupted from the wallhead and seem to shelter the roof. The E tower is flattened from the circular on its SW elevation, and this is where the front door is situated. The door is in a roll-moulded architrave and there is a gun loop to the right of it. Between the 1st and 2nd floor windows over the front door is an armorial panel depicting 2 stags rampant on either side of the arms of Sir Duncan Campbell of Glenorchy. The fenestration is mostly arranged in rather uneven bays. The size of the windows varies considerably: large windows (including 1 arched) light the great hall, which is on the 1st floor of the main block; smaller ones are on the ground floor and in the towers. Most of the windows have roughly-dressed stone margins. The bartizans and towers have conical or half-conical roofs. The chimney stacks are very broad and located at the wallhead.

Interior: the front door opens into a small hall from which rises a broad turnpike stair up to the 1st floor. Stairs to the upper floors are situated in the stair towers. The rest of the ground floor of the E tower is occupied by a bottle dungeon that is accessed from a small hole in the floor of the former guardroom (1st floor of E tower). The dungeon contains a crudely cut stone bench and basin. The entire ground floor is barrel-vaulted and paved with flag-stones. 2 narrow secondary staircases rise from the ground floor, one of which is blocked and may be a relic of an earlier building. There is a deep arched fireplace in the kitchen. The principal apartment on the 1st floor is the great hall. This has a roll-moulded fireplace and painted ceiling by Kenneth Johnson who also painted the ceilings of some of the other rooms. All the other rooms have simple roll-moulded fireplaces and timber-boarded doors.

Materials: timber-boarded front door. Predominantly 12- and 18-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows; some 4-pane casements. Harled random schist rubble with dressed margins. Graded grey Scottish slates.

Ancillary Building: circa 1870. 5-bay, single-storey, U-plan corrugated-iron building with rendered stacks. Timber-boarded door in lean-to porch. Lying-pane glazing in timber sash and case windows. Corrugated-iron piended roof. Octagonal clay cans. A smart corrugated-iron building, probably built as an office.

Bothy and Garden Walls: 1-room bothy with piended roof at foot of garden on banks of the Ample Burn. Random rubble with slated roof, timber-boarded door and 2 fixed-light windows. Random rubble garden walls to E of castle and retaining wall to S.

Statement of Interest

The lands of Edinample were granted by Henry, Lord Methuen to Colin Campbell of Glenorchy in 1547, but it was his son, Duncan Campbell, who is believed to be the builder of Edinample Castle. It is quite likely that an earlier castle stood on the site, and Tranter suggests that part of an earlier structure is incorporated into the present house. According to the previous List Description, Edinample was recast internally and had its roof modified in about 1790. At some point in the 18th or 19th century a 2-storey porch was added, and in the early 20th century a 5-storey addition was also built, but these were removed as part of the renovations that were undertaken in the 1970s. By the 1960s Edinample was derelict, but renovation work was undertaken in the 1970s by the then owner, Peter Nicholson. Work continued through the 1980s and '90s under several owners and architects (see 'Buildings of Scotland'), and was completed in about 1998.

The bothy at the end of the garden is shown on the 1st edition OS map (1862), and the corrugated-iron office first appears on the 2nd edition OS map (1898).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Edinample Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q5338115

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  This Old House: Restoring, Rehabilitating, and Renovating an Older House
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)