Methven, Perthshire

Methven Castle - Methven, Perthshire

There was an older castle on the site where the present Methven Castle now stands,dating back at least as far as the fourteenth century and modified in its glory days in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The visible parts of the present building, however, are no older than the reign of Charles I. It is a large and uncompromising square structure with characteristic early seventeenth-century towers at the corners.

The property was given by Robert I, the Bruce, to Walter, 6th High Steward of Scotland. In the middle of the sixteenth century it was for many years the home of Margaret Tudor, widow of James IV. She died there in 1541 and the property passed to her third husband, Henry Stuart, the father of Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots. In 1664 the Castle and estate was bought by Patrick Smythe of Braco, who thereafter styled himself Smythe (pronounced 'Smith') of Methven. His descendants continued to live there until only a few years ago.

The Methven Cup, a remarkable silver bowl and foot attached to each other by a rock crystal stem, belonged to Margaret Tudor and was used at Methven on special occasions. This most unusual sixteenth-century object is now in the Los Angeles County Museum, California, USA. Dating from about 1530, its silver mark (it has only one) has never been fully explained but it is probably that of the Edinburgh goldsmith, John Vaitch. The castle is private and cannot be visited.