Description

Earlier 16th century ruinous castle, 2-storey, rectangular-plan with round tower at NE, stair turret at re-entrant. Massive pink and buff rubble sandstone walls, roofless. Rough hewn quoins, windows, openings and arrow slits mostly with chamfered reveals; splayed shot-holes.

N ELEVATION: 2-leaf entrance door at rer-entrant with moulded depressed arch doorpiece and hoodmould with (eroded) mask label stops, shot-hole at right, window at 1st floor with relieving arch, relieving arch at top left; stair turret at left with groove to shot-hole in round tower at ground floor, 1 small and 3 large arrow slits above; round tower advanced at left with shot-hole at ground floor entrance.

E ELEVATION: round tower advanced at right with 2 shot-holes at ground floor, small window at ground and larger window at 1st floor left return elevation, shot-hole at ground and large window with relieving arch at 1st floor at main elevation recessed at left.

S ELEVATION: 2 shot-holes at ground floor, window at 1st, rebuilt boundary wall adjoining at left; left return elevation has wall and door at ground floor right, wall collapsed at 1st floor.

INTERIOR: barrel-vaulted ceilings; rectangular-plan kitchen in round tower with depressed arch chimneypiece. salt box, iron ring in ceiling; newel stair; moulded chimneypiece with relieving arch at 1st floor round tower, window seats; great hall has moulded corbel course and ashlar barrel ceiling, moulded chimneypiece with joggled lintel and moulded cornice, raised at centre formerly with Fothringham armorial, relieving arch above.

BOUNDARY WALL: rebuilt rubble wall extending W from S elevation, including old slop stone.

Statement of Interest

Old Powrie Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The property of Wester Powrie (as opposed to Easter Powrie, now Barns of Wedderburn) was acquired by Thomas Fothringham in 1412, but the castle was destroyed by the Scrymgeours in 1492. The present building was formerly conected to the N range (listed separately) by an E range variously referred to as 'Lady kinnaird's quarters' and 'the ladies quarter', and there was also an enclosing wall to the W, both shown on the 1805 map, but absent from the 1st edition of the OS map surveyed in 1858. A small rectangular ivy covered building to the NE now forming part of South Powrie Farm and listed with that property was also probaly part of the E range. according to Stell there are remains of a circular tower at the SW corner, thus Powrie was at one time of the Z-plan type, similar to the slightly later Claypotts, which it may also have resembled in its upper floors. The extensive Fothringham family papers in the Murthly Castle Muniments contain material pertinent to Powrie, but it was not practical to conduct a thorough search for this survey.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing

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

• 
  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
• 
  Old House Care and Repair
• 
  Cornwall (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Sheffield and the South (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets