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Substantially remodelled in the late-Victorian period, Pitreavie Castle was the site of the last fighting in the Battle of Inverkeithing in 1651. Cromwell's 'New Model' army had invaded Fife to circumvent the main royalist force at Stirling and was aiming for Perth to cut off supplies from the north. At Inverkeithing Cromwell's men engaged and defeated a combined force of Royalists and Covenanters fighting on behalf of Charles II. The battle shifted gradually northwards towards Pitreavie where the final fighting took place around the castle. After the battle it was said that, " "A rill, traversing the valley, called the Pinkerton-burn, ran with blood for several days, and the appearance of the little mounds, or heaps of the slain, resembled a hairst [harvest] field of stooks of corpses."