OS1/25/52/57

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 57

Parish of Longforgan -- Sheet 88 No. 5

[Castle Huntly extract:]
The objects antiquity mentioned in the last Statistical Account need not again be enumerated or described
but any account of this parish which did not embrace a particular notice of Castle Huntly, by far the most
remarkable building in it would be unsatisfactory and incomplete. It is the seat of George Paterson
Esqr. and there are few nobler specimens of an baronial residence to be with in Scotland. The time
of its erection is not known with certainty, but there can be no doubt that it must have been
very soon after the middle of the fifteenth century. It has this already resisted the storms of nearly
400 years and the strength of its foundation and the massiness and almost impenetrable soli-
dity of its walls, seems to justify the belief, that, if it is not overthrown by some convulsion of nature
it may stand for several hundred years more. It was built by the second Lord Gray of Fowlis who had
very extensive possessions in the Carse of Gowrie, and the tradition is that he named it after his lady
a daughter of the Earl of Huntly. The Castle with the fine estate belonging to it was sold to the Earl
of Strathmore in 1615 but it did not become Castle Lyon till 1672 when in virtue of a charter obtained
from Charles II. the barony of Longforgan was erected into a Lordship to be called the Lordship of
Lyon a name which it retained till 1777 when it purchased by the late Mr. Paterson, the father
of the present proprietor who having married a daughter of Lord Gray, the descendant of the founder
very naturally restored its first name of Castle Huntly. Large additions in remarkably good
keeping with the original edifice were made to it by that gentleman which had the effect
not only of improving its appearance but also of greatly increasing its accommodation. Its situation
is a striking one, on a rock rising almost perpendicularly out of the surrounding plain and scarcely
accessible except on the NE [North East] side from which quarter the approach to it is conducted. It is built
of Kingoody Stone which notwithstanding the long period that has elapsed can hardly be said to
have sustained injury or to exhibit the smallest symtoms of decay. Its walls are not less than
ten feet thick while they are as compact and as firmly cemented as the basis that supports them
and the height of the round tower above the ground id 116 feet. The view from the top is much
[continued on page 58]