Dupplin Castle

Dupplin Castle stands on a ridge above the River Earn in Perth and Kinross. Its earliest recorded owner was Sir William Oliphant in the late 13th century. The Battle of Dupplin Moor was fought nearby in 1332, when Edward Baliol took the field. The castle was rebuilt after a fire in 1461 and again after another in 1827. William Burn designed the present country house between 1828 and 1832. Sir John Dewar bought the estate in 1911 and became Lord Forteviot five years later. A final fire in the 1920s led to demolition in 1967 and a new house on the old foundations in 1970. The site is worth visiting for its layered history and grand architecture. The 1688 rebuilding kept parts of the earlier tower, while Burn’s 19th-century design cost about £30,000. Dewar’s whisky fortune gave the castle its last great phase before modern rebuilding. The estate’s 1729 landscaping filled a deep precipice between hills. These layers show how power and taste shifted over centuries. Visitors find a classical country house on a raised platform with long views over Strath Earn. The 1970 house uses the old foundations but looks entirely new. Remains of the earlier tower still stand inside the grounds. The surrounding parkland carries traces of the 18th-century redesign. From the ridge the river valley stretches away, linking past battles with present fields.