Menstrie Castle
| Menstrie Castle | |
|
Clackmannanshire | |
|---|---|
 Menstrie Castle, at the Foot of the Ochil Hills | |
| Type: | Fortified house |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NS84949686 |
| Location: | 56°9’2"N, 3°51’13"W |
| Town: | Menstrie |
| History | |
| Built late 16th century | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Converted to flats |
| Owned by: | Clackmannanshire Council |
Menstrie Castle is a castle in Menstrie in Clackmannanshire, now converted to residential flats. It is surrounded by modern housing. It is owned by Clackmannanshire Council.
Menstrie Castle stands on the southern side of the village. It dates from the late 16th and early 17th centuries and appears originally to have been quite a small L-shaped fortalice. Later the wing was extended, another wing was added and a curtain wall erected to the east to join up, enclosing quite a large courtyard. Only the west and south wings of the original house now remain. The gables are crowstepped and an angle-turret with gunloops crowns the south-east corner.[1]
Menstrie was burned by Montrose in 1645.
In 1963 the house was restored. The National Trust for Scotland for some years maintained a museum here, now closed, which told the story of the founding of Nova Scotia by Sir William Alexander, who was born here in 1577.[2]