Dalhousie Castle

Dalhousie Castle is a substantial fortified residence dating from circa 1450, comprising an L-plan keep and curtain wall that was remodeled and expanded extensively over subsequent centuries. The castle was incorporated with new buildings around 1633, underwent alterations by John Douglas and George Paterson in the 18th century, and received major additions and castellations by William Burn in 1825. The structure is built in tooled, coursed pink sandstone with droved dressings, featuring crenellated parapets and angle turrets. Multiple storeys extend over a basement level.

The western principal elevation is asymmetrical, with an advanced entrance bay at the centre of the former curtain wall, featuring a round-arched doorway with a recessed panelled and glazed timber door. Above the doorway are two tall vertical openings that formerly held the beams of a drawbridge, with the Ramsay family crest displayed on a tooled panel between them. A single-bay link connects to a two-storey drum tower on the left, which has round-arched irregularly placed windows and a watchtower. To the right of the entrance bay extends a three-storey, six-bay curtain wall with angle turrets rising through the first and second floors. Regular fenestration was added in 1633, with hoodmoulds to the centre four bays at ground and first floor levels. Tooled pediments to windows on the left of the first floor bear the initials "WED" (William Earl of Dalhousie) and "MCD" (Margaret Countess of Dalhousie). The keep is largely obscured by additions to the curtain wall.

The southern elevation is asymmetrical with four storeys above vaulted cellars and four bays. A coped, battered wall advances at basement level. The leftmost bay projects forward and features a Y-traceried window at ground floor, a five-light window at first floor, and regular fenestration to the upper floors. A canted two-storey bay marks the re-entrant angle to the right, with a window to the right return. A single-storey block advances at ground floor, with a square-plan block at right angles. Regular fenestration to the first, second and third floors above is recessed.

The eastern elevation is near-symmetrical, featuring a three-storey, three-bay central block with a boarded timber door to the basement and irregular fenestration above. Angle turrets rise through the first and second floors. The four-storey 15th-century keep is largely obscured, though a bay advances to the centre with a bipartite round-arched window with hoodmould at the fourth floor, with windows to the left and right returns and a flanking bay to the right. A single-storey block flanks to the left with regular fenestration, and a two-storey block flanks to the right, featuring a round-arched window at ground floor with two corbel stones below and a narrow round-arched window above surmounted by a tooled panel bearing the Ramsay crest. A single-storey block to the outer right contains a doorway to the left flanked by three windows to the right.

The northern elevation is asymmetrical with six bays. A single-storey wall advanced to the outer left encloses a small courtyard with two two-leaf segmentally-arched boarded timber doors, behind which stands a two-storey block. A single-storey and basement block to the right contains regular fenestration, with a two-storey block slightly recessed behind and a three-storey tower to the left, featuring three-light windows at first and second floors and two-light windows to flanking bays to the right. The four-storey 15th-century keep is recessed behind with irregular fenestration, and the drum tower mentioned on the west elevation extends to the outer right.

The castle features a variety of timber-framed windows throughout. The roof is piended 18th-century grey slate with lead ridges, supported by a variety of gablehead, wallhead and ridge stacks in various materials. Cast-iron rainwater goods are installed.

The interior has been substantially altered over time. The keep contains barrel-vaulted cellars. William Burn introduced a Gothick entrance hall featuring an imperial staircase leading to a mezzanine floor, beneath a fan-vaulted plaster ceiling with two circular inset lanterns. Reception rooms to the south include a dining room with a decorative timber ceiling, a drawing room with a Jacobean plaster ceiling, and a library with Gothick bookcases and an elaborate rococo ceiling. A simple barrel-vaulted chapel, originally an armoury, is also present. The interior was redecorated by Morison and Co in 1875 and refitted in 1972 by Mottram, Patrick, Whitehorn, Dalgleish & Partners.

Dalhousie Castle forms part of a group with the Folly on the west bank of the River South Esk, the Folly on the east bank of the River South Esk, Dalhousie Bridge over the River South Esk, West Lodge, and Grove Farm (the former Dalhousie Walled Garden).

The castle was described by Groome as "a stately castellated pile". Simon de Ramsay was granted the barony of Dalhousie (then called "Dalwolsie", meaning Vale of Wool) in the early 12th century, and George Ramsay was created Lord Ramsay in 1618. William, the 2nd Lord, became the Earl of Dalhousie in 1633 and converted the castle into a Renaissance mansion, leaving his initials and those of his wife displayed in the pediments on the western elevation. The castle originally comprised a keep and curtain wall surrounded by a dry moat, now filled in. The pink sandstone used in its construction is thought to have come from an adjacent quarry, now disused.

Over the centuries, the castle underwent numerous alterations. Between 1778 and 1779, George Paterson subjected the building to Georgianisation. According to Sir Walter Scott's Journal entry of 23 December 1827, "the old Castle of Dalhousie...was mangled by a fellow called, I believe, Douglas, who destroyed, as far as in him lay, its military and baronial character, and roofed it after the fashion of a poor's-house. Burn is now restoring and repairing in the old taste." William Burn restored the mullion and transomed windows, the gothic interiors, and castellated the curtain wall. In 1867 the upper storey was lost to fire but was subsequently restored. Between 1927 and 1950 the castle served as a preparatory school for boys; in 1955 it became a hotel to accommodate and entertain Canadian visitors from Dalhousie College in Canada, and in 1985 it resumed operation as a hotel.

The grounds, which featured open areas of sweeping curved woodland illustrated by Nasmyth and described in the New Statistical Account as "singularly beautiful", were laid out by James Robertson before 1750. J.C. Loudon noted the presence of an "extensive collection of trees and shrubs". The landscape was altered in the mid-19th century.