Ochiltree Castle And Boundary Wall

Ochiltree Castle is an early 17th-century laird's house, comprising a main three-storey and attic L-plan block with an additional three-storey wing to the north and a late 19th-century single-storey wing to the west. The building underwent internal remodelling in the late 17th century, with maintenance work carried out in 1981 and attic floor reinstatement around 1989.

The castle is constructed from cream sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings. It features corbelled circular turrets at the south-east and north-west angles, and a round stair turret with stepped stair lights positioned in the north-east re-entrant angle. The roofline is characterised by grey slate with conical roofs to the turrets, crowstepped gables, and broad apex stacks with splayed chimneyheads and beak skewputts. A cavetto-moulded eaves course runs around the building, and round-angle window margins appear throughout.

The west entrance elevation is notably asymmetrical. An off-centre ashlar porch with a boarded door and small peephole window features a roll-moulded surround, surmounted by two finialled pediments bearing heraldry and monogrammed initials (DGR and SAS) cradling a finialled gablet. Windows are irregularly distributed: one to the upper left, a smaller window with a decorative gabled dormerhead at the second floor, and a taller crowstepped gabled bay to the right with an apex stack. The corbelled north-west angle turret projects to the left of this elevation.

The south elevation displays further asymmetrical fenestration with windows at various levels, traces of a blocked arched opening at the first floor, and an arrowslit window to the outer left. An apex stack rises off-centre to the right, with the south-east corbelled angle turret positioned to the right.

The east elevation comprises a crowstepped gabled return with an apex stack, incorporating the re-entrant angle stair tower. A door with roll-moulded architrave is located to the left, with an arrowloop window at the first floor and small windows distributed across multiple levels. Traces of blocked windows appear on this elevation.

The later north wing is more restrained in its fenestration, with chamfered reveals to its windows. Multi-pane casement windows appear throughout.

Interior spaces are organised by a spinal corridor running east to west at ground level, dividing the north and south wings. The old kitchen to the north retains an arch of an old fireplace, reinstated around 1989. A newel stair in the re-entrant angle serves all floors. A straight stair along the west wall ascends to the drawing room at first-floor level in the south wing, which features a timber-beamed ceiling and large stone chimneypiece. Upper rooms contain good chimneypieces and mostly timber-beamed ceilings.

The late 19th-century wing to the west is a long single-storey structure with an advanced block to the south-east, constructed from cream sandstone rubble with an asymmetrical arrangement of windows and doors. This section features an M-gabled roof and predominantly 12-pane sash and case windows.

A rubble boundary wall with semi-circular coping encloses the castle's garden.