| Description | This watercolour shows Menstrie Castle when still semi-ruinous. It was built c1560 as a manor house by the Alexander family. It was the birthplace of Sir William Alexander, one of the most powerful men in Scotland in the early 17th century. A scholar and poet who impressed James VI with his learning, he became tutor to his eldest son, Prince Henry, and accompanied the royal family to London in 1603 when James succeeded to the English throne. He was knighted in 1609 and in 1620 he persuaded the king to establish a new colony called Nova Scotia (now part of Canada). Both men believed that this would make them rich.
In 1621 Sir William was made Hereditary Lieutenant of Nova Scotia and given powers to settle the colony. In 1624, already losing money, he devised a scheme to sell hereditary baronetcies in return for grants of land there. Charles I appointed him as Principal Secretary of State for Scotland in 1626. Further attempts were made to establish the colony, but the French had a prior claim to the land. Louis XIII withheld part of his sister's dowry (Henrietta Maria was Charles' wife); in 1632 Charles, desperate for money, signed a treaty by which the French regained Nova Scotia. Sir William was now heavily in debt and was never compensated by the king. The Nova Scotia scheme failed and only 116 baronets were created, though their descendants still wear their badges proudly today.
Ever the statesman, Sir William prepared for Charles' coronation by improving Menstrie Castle and enlarging his town house in Stirling (bought in 1629 and now known as Argyll's Lodging). Charles was crowned at Holyrood in 1633 and Sir William was invested 1st Earl of Stirling and Viscount Canada. In 1640, however, having outlived his two eldest sons, he died a bankrupt and broken man in London.
In 1645 the house, empty since the death of Sir William Alexander, was burned during the Civil War. James Holburne, a Major General in the army of the Scottish Covenanters and already living in Menstrie, acquired it as part of a marriage dowry in 1648. His grandson Sir James Holburne, 1st Baronet of Nova Scotia, sold it to Alexander Abercromby of Tullibody in 1719. In 1893, the old connection with Menstrie was remembered when the Holburne of Menstrie Museum (now Holburne Museum of Art) was established in Bath at the bequest of the last member of the family.
Sir Ralph Abercromby was born here in 1734, though he grew up in Tullibody House. He become a famous military commander, dying as a result of a wound sustained at the Battle of Aboukir against French forces in 1801.
The Abercromby family sold the house and estate in 1924, but by then it had already declined. By 1951 it was derelict, but a campaign was started to save it. It was listed as a building of national importance, but by 1953 it was still in danger of being demolished by the county council because no money was available to restore it. The famous Scots actor, broadcaster and conservationist Moultrie Kelsall, who lived in Blairlogie, began a sustained campaign to ensure its survival. In March 1957 an appeal for funds was launched and work began soon afterwards.
The restoration was completed in 1964. The Castle was converted into four flats, at first the property of the local authority, but now all owned privately. Two ground-floor rooms, which would have been used for storage originally, were converted into a display area. These are now owned by Clackmannanshire Council and are managed by the National Trust for Scotland. |