Ballinbreich Castle

Ballinbreich was an impressive tower house and courtyard erected by the Leslie family in the 14th century, and subsequently altered several times into the latter 16th century. Today the ruins lie at the edge of a field and access inside is not permitted for safety reasons.

The truth is that the castle has been built and rebuilt several times, and in each case the rebuilding modified the earlier work, which may have been damaged. As such it is hard to establish a sequence of construction as masonry could very easily have been reused. However, it is clear that there was a walled courtyard here in the 14th century, and that at about the end of the 14th century a rectangular tower was erected at the southern end of this courtyard. At a later date, this tower was heightened, and extended to square off the re-entrant between it and the south-west corner of the courtyard. Subsequently, further extensions were added to create an accommodation block the full width of the courtyard, a great stair wing was added to the heightened tower, and residential ranges were built along the west wall. Most of this work is 16th century.

Ballinbreich was a property of Laurence Abernethy in the reign of Alexander II, and was held by his descendant Hugh in 1291/2, although they were in possession of the crown in 1293. This appears to have been in order to settle the succession between Hugh’s two grand-daughters, Mary and Margaret. Ballinbreich went to Mary, and her husband Andrew Leslie, in the reign of Robert Bruce. The castle remained with the Leslie family into the 18th century, who became earls of Rothes. It remained in use throughout this period, but was abandoned after it was sold to the Dundas family and plundered for stone.

There are numerous aspects of the buildings here that are unsafe, and I would not recommend anyone attempt to access the inside