Lethendy House

Lethendy House stands in Perth and Kinross, about five and a half kilometres south-west of Blairgowrie and eight hundred metres east of Kirkton of Lethendy. It is a 17th-century L-plan tower house, once owned by the Herons. A later castellated mansion designed by Andrew Heiton was added in 1884. The tower has three storeys plus a garret and shows many changes over time. The entrance is now inside a modern building and protected by a gunloop above the door. Below ground a vaulted basement holds a kitchen, while a turnpike stair rises through the wing above a pit-prison. A carved Picto-Scottish slab from the 10th century forms the lintel on the first flight of the staircase. Visitors find the tower’s compact L-shape and its altered interiors full of small details. The gunloop and pit-prison recall its defensive past, while the vaulted kitchen and turnpike stair show how domestic life was organised. The 10th-century slab with its figures of an angel, clerics, musicians and a dog adds an unexpected touch of early medieval art to the 17th-century fabric.