Blair Castle snippets
Extracts from MS249 The Atholl Experience
Blair Castle snippets
The early history of the Castle is somewhat involved in
obscurity. Tradition states that the earliest portion, called
'Cumming's Tower', was built by John Cumming de Strathbogie about
the year 1255, he having made an incursion into Atholl during Henry
Earl of Atholl's absence at the Crusades.
The oldest representation of the exterior of the
Castle consists of two sketches, dated 1736, drawn by Charles
Frederick, a nephew of James 2nd Duke's first wife. Duke
James also had plans of the Castle made by Mr Douglas in 1736, and
by Mr Winter in 1743....
No family records are known to be extant showing when the different
additions were built previous to 1736, but from the several thick
division walls which app
ear to have formerly been outside
walls, it is evident that they were made at different
dates...'
1644
During the time of James 1st Marquis of Montrose, and his coming to
Atholl to raise troops for the Royalist cause, the castle was
garrisoned by troops and used as both hospital and
prison.
1652
Blair Castle was taken possession of and occupied by a garrison of
Oliver Cromwell's
forces.
1689
The castle was yet again garrisoned, this time by General Mackay's
troops following the Battle of Killiecrankie. Fearing that
the Atholl men might set fire to the castle, Mackay threatened that
if it was damaged, he would not leave a single house standing
between Dunkeld and Blair Atholl.
1736
The 2nd Duke, James, employed an architect called Mr Douglas to
make alterations to the castle. He submitted a number of
plans but they were all rejected. He did, however, raise the
unfinished part of the south west end of the castle by adding two
floors one containing the Red Bedroom and Dressing Rooms and the
Derby Room, with attics on the floor above.
1745-46
Prince Charles Edward Stuart arrived at Blair Castle on 31 August
1745 and remained there for three days during his triumphal march
to the south. William, 'the Jacobite duke' and eldest
surviving son of the 1st Duke, took possession of the castle after
an exile of 29 years and it was garrisoned by Jacobite troops till
after the Battle of Culloden in April 1746, after which it was
possessed by the Duke of Cumberland's troops under Sir Andrew
Agnew. During this time it was besieged by Lord George
Murray, (another Jacobite brother of the 2nd Duke) and 300 of his
men and a few ineffectual pieces of artillery. His plan was
to prevent supplies from reaching the castle, so he erected a
battery of his artillery pieces on rising ground a little below St
Brides Church, but to little effect. Damage to the structure
of the castle as a result of the siege was mostly confined to the
roof, where red-hot cannon balls had merely charred the rafters and
to windows, many of which were
broken.
In September 1844 Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with an
extensive entourage, stayed in the castle for three weeks. It
appears that the room used as the Queen's bedroom is now known as
the Derby Room, adjacent to the Red Bedroom, which she used as a
dressing room. Albert's dressing room was the Derby Dressing
Room, next
door.
Source: The Atholl Experience, Vol 16, pp4-6, 12
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