Drummond Castle

Sir Malcolm Drummond fought by Robert the Bruce’s side at Bannockburn in 1314 and was granted lands in Strathearn.

The castle was built there in 1491 by Sir John Drummond. His daughter was the lover of James IV; it is rumoured that they even married and had a daughter. In order to form an alliance with England, Scotland’s nobles wanted James IV to marry Margaret Tudor, the sister of the English king Henry VII. Margaret Drummond was in the way of this plan and along with her two sisters was murdered with poisoned fruit.

Mary Queen of Scots stayed at the castle, by then seat of the Drummond Earl of Perth, with Bothwell and hunted locally.

The original tower was rebuilt after Cromwell’s siege in 1653.

The Drummonds lost the lands and seat after the Jacobite rising of 1745-46. The 6th Earl of Perth commanded the left wing of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s doomed army at Culloden.

A Victorian mansion was added and the Castle is the seat of the Earls of Ancaster (descendants from the female line of Drummonds).

The Castle is most famous for it’s magnificent Italianate parterre gardens, one of the finest formal gardens in Europe. Originally laid out in 1630 by John Drummond, 2nd Earl of Perth and Italianised and embellished with a number of fine statues in 1830.

A special feature is the unique 17th century Sundial which has around 50 faces and tells the time in many of Europe’s capitals. The gardens are open daily in the afternoons from May to end of October.