Menstrie Castle

Menstrie Castle stands in the small town of Menstrie in Clackmannanshire, central Scotland. It is a three-storey manor house built around 1560 by the Alexander family. The town lies near Stirling, close to the heart of Scotland’s central belt. The castle began as a modest L-plan tower house before later additions turned it into a U-plan house with a walled courtyard. Over the centuries it passed through the hands of noble families, each leaving its mark on the building. Today it mixes holiday flats, private homes and a small museum. The castle’s most famous resident was Sir William Alexander, 1st Earl of Stirling, born here about 1577. He rose from poet to a leading figure in the court of James VI and later became Principal Secretary of State. In 1621 he was appointed governor of Nova Scotia and devised a scheme to sell baronetcies to fund colonisation. Though the plan failed and Nova Scotia reverted to France in 1632, his story remains linked to the castle. Another notable owner was Major General James Holborne, who bought the damaged house in 1648 after it had been burned by Royalist forces. Visitors find two ground-floor rooms set aside as a museum. One displays the arms of all the Baronets of Nova Scotia, the other commemorates William Alexander’s colonial ambitions. The entrance arch from the 16th century survives, though the ground floor stonework around it was renewed during restoration. The National Trust for Scotland manages the exhibition space, while the wider building contains holiday flats and private flats. Outside, the walled courtyard and the remains of the curtain wall frame views of the Ochil Hills.