Description

Mid 16th century; 3-storey and attic, Z-plan house with vaulted circular W tower and square E tower; minor 18th century alterations and additions; 1883 wing to NW, possibly by Lake Falconer; dormer windows possibly c1820; E doorpiece and screen wall, G F M Ogilvy, 1920s. Interior detail c1700 and late 18th century. Whitewashed harl with stone margins. Pedimented and moulded red sandstone doorpiece; pedimented dormerheads; corbels; crowstepped gables and dormerheads.

NE (ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: 4-bay elevation with tall 3-storey and attic block to left of centre incorporating door with coat of arms to pediment at ground right, 2 windows to each floor above and small attic window to right; square stairtower projecting at outer left with gunloop openings and small stair turret corbelled out over 2nd floor, with relief-carved human face to lowest corbel, in re-entrant angle to right. 1883 wing to right with window to centre and smaller window to right at ground, regular fenestration to each floor above, 2nd floor windows breaking eaves into pedimented dormerheads. Further low extension to outer right.

SE (ORIGINAL ENTRANCE) ELEVATION: advanced stair tower to right with 3 vertically-aligned small windows to centre, door in re-entrant angle to left (see Notes) with splayed gunloop immediately to right and further small window abutting eaves. Set-back, 2-bay face to left with asymmetrical fenestration, additional tiny window to right at 2nd floor and 2 pedimented dormers rising from wallhead.

SW ELEVATION: gabled bay to right of centre with 3 tiny gunloop openings to left; round tower projecting at left with 3 vertically-aligned windows, that to 1st floor with red sandstone quoins and that to 2nd floor with semicircular stone cill and corbelled to set-back square face above with wallhead dormer (not crowstepped) dated '18' '20?', 3 further windows to 1st, 2nd floor and attic on return to right.

NW (REAR) ELEVATION: asymmetrically-fenestrated altered elevation with variety of elements including single storey wing projecting from circular tower at right, cobbled setts to courtyard formed by low 2-storey extension at left and door to left ground of largely blank gabled centre bay.

Multi-pane glazing patterns in timber sash and case windows. Grey slates. Coped harled stacks with thackstanes and some cans.

INTERIOR: fine decorative scheme in place including 1st floor drawing room with c1700 pine panelling, moulded corniced fire surround with panelled overmantel and flanking Ionic pilasters, little drawing room (in round tower) with similar panelling and moulded fire surround. Spiral stone staircases and small private stair in thickness of wall leading from drawing room to bedrooms. Main bedroom (over dining room) with curved doors; 2nd floor with 3 interconnecting bedrooms. Passage through 8" thick wall to vaulted ground floor chamber of circular tower with stone-flagged floor. Library (to later N wing) with carved timber fire surround and panelled dado.

Statement of Interest

Macgibbon and Ross' sketch of Newton Castle shows the SE elevation with its original door to ground right of the main block, and only a small horizontal opening, presumably the gunloop/vizzying hole to the left return of the stair tower. Walls on the ground floor vary from 3' to 8' thick. The fine panelled drawing rooms were installed after a fire in the late 17th century. The kitchen, now situated within the 19th century wing, was originally located on the ground floor of the square tower, now used as hall and dining room. There are no known cellars below ground level but in 1911 some family members dug away ground beside the round tower and uncovered an opening leading to a lower room which they thought was filled with earth and stones. The castle is understood to have belonged originally to Scone Abbey, and to have been inhabited by lay brothers. Recorded history begins c1550 when George Drummond purchased the lands of 'Newton of Blair'; another George Drummond, six times Lord Provost of Edinburgh, was born here in 1687. The Grahams of Balgowan were the next family to live at the castle, and in 1748 Thomas Graham, one of Wellington's generals, became Lord Lynedoch. Colonel Allan Macpherson purchased the estate in 1787-88 and it has remained in the family ever since. Interior timber fittings and floors are said to have been burned by both Montrose and Cromwell. During the latter invasion some of those defending the house are thought to have taken refuge in a 'subterranean vault', possibly the room discovered in 1911 which may also have belonged to an earlier structure. The steading is now listed separately.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Newton Castle at Wikipedia
• Wikidata Q9704510

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

• 
  Pioneers of Modern Design: From William Morris to Walter Gropius (Penguin Art & Architecture)
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  For the Record
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair
• 
  [(Shropshire)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1958)