KINFAUNS CASTLE

Perthshire

Designed by Sir Robert Smirke in 1820-22

for Francis, 15th Lord Gray (1765-1842)

Lord Gray had inherited the estate of Kinfauns from his mother, the last Miss Blair of Kinfauns. Smirke's other work in Scotland included Newton Don (Roxburghshire), Cultoquhey (Perthshire) and the County Buildings in Perth. In 1878 the castle passed by entail to Edmund Archibald Stuart (b.1840), who succeeded his kinsman as 14th Earl of Moray in 1895.

The Castle, described not too politely in Jack's Gazetteer as "a Gothic pile", stands 233 feet by 160 feet at the foot of Kinfauns Hill, facing south and overlooking the River Tay, at a point where the river begins to broaden gently out into the estuary.

The Stewart Society had its first expedition to Kinfauns as long ago as 1909 when, according to the earliest Minute Book, "The Hon. Morton Stuart Grey of Kinfauns ... explained his desire to have the members of the Society at a Garden Party at Kinfauns Castle on Saturday 19 June". The visit took place "in most delightful weather. The members were driven to and from the castle by the Hon. Mr. Stuart Gray and were most hospitably received and entertained by Mr. and Mrs. Stuart Gray ...".