Balcarres House

Balcarres House appears to be a large baronial mansion at first glance, but at its core is a substantial Z-plan tower house of the 16th century, which was massively extended in the 19th century on two occasions. The house has always been the private residence of the Lindsay family and is therefore not open to the public, although the gardens are occasionally, which enables the outside of the house to be seen.

The house was built after the lands of Balcarres were granted to John Lindsay in 1586, prior to which the lands had been held by Douglases and Borthwicks. It seems probable that the superiority of Balcarres had historically been held by the Dunbars of Kilconquhar (as the dispossessed descendants of the earls of Dunbar came to be known) or the earls of Fife, but they are not specifically mentioned. The Lindsays of Balcarres were active in the Covenanting period, and Alexander Lindsay, created Earl of Balcarres in 1651, lived in exile with the future Charles II, his wife acting as tutor to the future William of Orange. Despite this he remained a committed Jacobite, dying in exile in 1722. There is no record of the house ever seeing military action, and after the Jacobite period, the Lindsays played little part international events.