Illieston Castle

Illieston Castle stands beside the River Almond in West Lothian, a T-plan tower house built around 1600. Its south side shows a full-height staircase tower topped by a small watch-chamber reached through a corbelled stair-turret. The roof once carried gabled dormers and the main block rose two storeys with an attic, though a later kitchen wing has been removed. Architect William Burn restored the building in the 19th century and modern interiors were added in the 21st. The castle’s past links it to two Stewart kings who reputedly hunted nearby, and to the Hamiltons who kept a priest’s chamber in the 17th century. John Lauder’s 1668 account describes a ground-floor kitchen and first-floor hall hung with tapestry, while James VI allegedly advanced 20,000 merks toward its cost. After changing hands several times, the Brownlee family owned it from 1950 until a 2007 sale that brought new owners and later media attention. Inside, visitors find four bedrooms and three reception rooms spread over three floors, plus a turret room measuring roughly 2.8 by 2.65 metres. A modern kitchen wing contains a laundry room and small lobby opening toward a walled garden. Outside, the slopes of the River Almond frame the castle, and a biomass boiler supplies heat while solar panels once tested renewable energy.