Description
The castle is an example of the type of mid-sixteenth-century residence that had a first-floor lodging consisting of a hall and chamber as its principal accommodation. It is of L-shaped plan, with the principal lodging in the rectangular main block that runs from east to west. The spacious principal stair, which has the entrance to the castle at its base, and which rose no higher than the first floor, is in a wing at the north-west-corner of the main block, There is a second, smaller stair in a projection within the re-entrant angle between the main block and the wing, which gave access to the floor above the hall and chamber. The uppermost floors in the wing, which rose above the main body of the castle, were reached by a smaller stair that was corbelled out above the hall roof. The wing and stair tower were externally more richly treated than the rest of the castle, though they appear to be of the same date.
The basement was divided into a series of vaulted chambers, with a corridor along the side towards the courtyard. The kitchen was in the largest of those chambers, at the eastern end of the building. The floor above the principal lodging was divided into an uncertain number of smaller chambers, and was lit by dormer windows, some the sills of which survive. At the south-west corner of the main block is an unusual small projection that appears to have contained several levels of closets served by a small spiral stair.
The forecourt to the north of the castle, which was entered through a transe at the centre of the north range, appears to have been later than the castle in its present form. However, there were always intended to be ancillary buildings on this side on the evidence of tusking at the castle's north-east corner and the provision of a doorway on the north side of the chamber.
History
The main building of the castle is assumed to have been built in the years around 1566 on the basis of an inscribed stone found in the vicinity, and now in Falkirk Museum. It was the home of the Forrester of Garden family, who derived their name from their hereditary role as royal foresters. The estates passed to Lord Forrester of Corstorphine in 1635, and it is thought that it was he who reconstructed the rectangular forecourt of ancillary buildings on the north side of the castle. The castle is particularly remembered as the place captured by the Earls of Angus and Mar in 1585 as they prepared to take Stirling castle.
Status
The shell of the castle is largely complete. However, at basement level, at first-floor chamber level, and at the wall head above the chamber, there has been a range of conjectural modifications and insertions at the hands of a recent owner. In addition the main stair has been reconstructed in concrete and the recent work has used cement based mortars.
Conservation Options
The structurally largely complete state of the building means that it would lend itself to restoration with relative ease though a number of the more inappropriate recent modifications would probably have to be reversed. However, the planning of the castle means that there are a relatively small number of large spaces within the castle, which could be challenging for modern use.
Bibliography
J Gifford and F A Walker, The Buildings of Scotland, Stirling and Central Scotland, New Haven and London, 2002, pp 776-9
D MacGibbon and T Ross, The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland, vol. 2, Edinburgh, 1887, pp. 162-5.
Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland, Inventory of Stirlingshire, vol 2, Edinburgh, 1963, pp 337-9