Hmp Castle Huntly

Castle Huntly, originating in the 15th century, is situated on a flat plain near the River Tay and stands on a volcanic mound. Its distinctive landscape presence is enhanced by a corbelled and battlemented parapet and angle turrets. The building features a strongly vertical L-plan tower house from the 15th century, which is mainly three storeys high with an attic and a deep basement. It underwent internal alterations and the enclosing of basement vaults to the north-west in the 17th century, and again from 1777 to 1783 when two-storey crowstep-gabled castellated wings were added to the east. Between these wings, a single-storey block was constructed by John Paterson from 1792 to 1795, which was later remodelled and recessed in 1937-1938.

The stonework consists predominantly of random rubble for the earlier tower and roughly squared and coursed stone for the 18th-century additions. The windows are primarily timber sash and case with 12-pane glazing.

The interior, last seen in 2014, features an entrance lobby that leads to a top-lit oval saloon from 1793 to 1795, complete with a decorative cornice and a classical-style chimneypiece. The interior includes six-panel timber doors, early vaulted storerooms in the basement—one of which provides access to a pit-prison—and principal rooms with architraved doorcases, corniced ceilings in classical styles, and timber shutters. The former dining room showcases a vine leaf cornice and a moulded stone fireplace from the 1930s. A stone staircase with iron barleysugar balusters and a timber handrail adds to the interior's character.

To the south, the Garden Terraces likely date from the late 17th century and feature two main tall brick walls forming terracing that runs west to east, along with various other surviving sections of walls. The upper terrace is adorned with three Renaissance classical statues, one male and two female, which are now painted white and are also believed to date from the late 17th century.