Dudhope Castle, Barrack Road, Dundee

Dudhope Castle is a late 16th and 17th century L-plan, four-storey fortress and tower house situated on Barrack Road, Dundee. The southwest wing dates back to approximately 1588 and includes a vaulted basement. It was heightened in two stages, with a pend section dated 1600 added. The northeast wing was constructed around 1684-9 on the site of a 1460 keep. The roof lines and floors were altered in 1792 and 1799, initially converting the structure into a woollen manufactory, then into barracks by Samuel Bell. A restoration was undertaken between 1985 and 1988, including harling of the exterior.

The northeast wing’s east elevation features a central segmental arched pend flanked by twin drums, the latter reduced to band course level in 1986 and given conical roofs. A swept-roofed bellcote, rebuilt in 1986, sits atop a corbelled gablet with an oculus designed by Samuel Bell in 1799. A section to the right was altered in 1986, raising the ground floor and blocking first-floor windows, reducing it from four to three storeys. An earlier section to the left is battered at ground floor level, with three blocked windows reopened in 1986. The wallhead has stacks; the left one original, the right one replaced. The angle turrets have conical roofs, the left one having smaller windows and thicker walls than the right. A tall brick stack was rebuilt on the northeast turret. The north gable is slightly advanced to the right and reveals remnants of the earlier keep, including a roll-moulded fireplace in the attic space.

The west elevation has a pend that is not a true arch. A roll-moulded door is located to the right. Five bays to the north of the pend are slightly advanced, and three windows were formed in 1986 between floors by blocking ground and first-floor openings. Four storeys are retained at the pend and stair levels.

The southwest wing’s south elevation, dating back to approximately 1588, originally had dormer wallhead cills raised to full height in two stages, the second in the 1790s, resulting in the present four-storey and basement appearance. Six bays are located between the clasping angle turrets. A brick-built gable and stack were added to the right in 1986, above two reopened and one blocked window. Some lower-level windows are roll-moulded and have sockets for bars. Evidence of a blocked ground floor window is visible between the fourth and fifth bays. Small basement windows are present. The southwest tower has a corbelled-out link at the second and third floors, with openings altered to match the new floor levels in 1799.

The west gable exhibits skewputts at two levels, indicative of the roof being raised twice, and once being crow-stepped. The lower skewputt bears the armorial of Dame Madelene Livingstone, the late 16th-century wife of Sir James Scrymgeour.

The north elevation has a six-bay section, with a semi-circular turret in the third bay from the left. This turret was removed in 1799 and reformed in 1988 from the original ground floor corbel. The right side has irregular fenestration, potentially indicating the position of the former great hall or dining room.

The building is topped with gabled slate roofs, with a piend behind the southeast turret. There's a visible joint in the roofline behind the bellcote. Stacks were rebuilt in brick and harled in 1986. Windows were renewed in 1987 as multi-paned sash and case designs.

The interior of the southwest wing features a basement with barrel vaults and a groin vault in the west kitchen. All timber floors and stone stairs, originally replaced to modern standards in 1799 for barrack rooms, were reformed in 1988. Remnants of fireplaces within internal walls (for example, on the north gable) and window openings (for example, on the north face to the courtyard) are still discernible.