Castle Menzies
in Scotland is the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies and the
Menzies Baronets. It is located a little to the west of the
small village of Weem, near Aberfeldy in the Highlands of
Perthshire, close to the former site of Weem Castle, destroyed
c. 1502.
The sixteenth-century castle was the seat of the chiefs of clan
Menzies for over 500 years. Strategically situated, it was
involved in the turbulent history of the highlands. Bonnie
Prince Charlie, the Stuart pretender to the throne, rested for
two nights in the castle on his way to the battle of Culloden in
1746. The restoration of the ancient part of the castle involved
the demolition of a greatly decayed 18th century wing.
The castle, restored by the Menzies Clan Society after 1957, is
an example of architectural transition between an earlier
tradition of rugged fortresses and a later one of lightly
defensible 'châteaux'. The walls are of random rubble,
originally harled (roughcast), but the quoins, turrets and door
and window surrounds are of finely carved blue freestone. This
attractive and extremely hard-weathering stone was also used for
the architectural details and monuments at the nearby Old Kirk
of Weem, which was built by the Menzies family and contains
their monuments and funeral hatchments. A marriage stone above
the original entrance was installed by James Menzies in 1571, to
record his marriage to Barbara Stewart, daughter of the Earl of
Atholl.
Duleep Singh, last maharajah of the Sikh Empire, lived at Castle
Menzies between 1855 and 1858, following his exile from the
Punjab in 1854. He was officially the ward of Sir John Spencer
Login and Lady Login, who leased the castle for him.
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