Meggernie Castle

Meggernie Castle stands in the heart of Perth and Kinross, on the steep slope above Glen Lyon where the river cuts through the hills towards Loch Tay. The name may come from a Pictish word for a boggy meadow, and the site once held a thatched keep before the present stone castle rose. Clan Gregor built the earliest parts, but by the early 17th century the Campbells had taken over the land and enlarged the tower. Five-foot-thick walls and four corner towers show its role as a fortified stronghold, while a later mansion house was joined to the keep without spoiling its style. The castle is worth the journey for its clear links to Scottish history and legend. A document signed by King James VI in 1603 mentions ‘the Tower named Meggernie’, fixing its place in the past. The Wills family owned it for most of the 20th century, giving it a modern chapter in its long story. Yet the castle is best known for the ghost of a young woman whose tragic end is still recalled in local tales. Visitors walk past the thick walls and narrow slit windows that once kept watch over Glen Lyon. Inside, the mansion house attached to the keep shows how the building grew over time. Guests have spoken of seeing a woman’s ghostly form gliding through rooms or feeling a red-hot kiss on the cheek. Nearby, the churchyard holds the buried lower half of her body, while her upper half is said to wander the castle’s upper floors.