Airth Castle

Photos by Drone
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On my way home from filming a wedding in Culross on Saturday, I made a slight detour to check out an old favourite wedding venue of mine, Airth Castle. It went bust a few years ago, such a shame to see it in the condition it’s in now. The separate hotel building has been set on fire a few times.

This was the castle, when I was at a wedding, about 4 years ago.

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and this was it on Saturday night.

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According to an account attributed to Blind Harry, in 1298 William Wallace attacked a previous wooden fortification on this site to rescue his imprisoned uncle, a priest from Dunipace. A later castle was destroyed after the defeat of King James III at Sauchieburn in 1488. The southwest tower is the earliest part, dating to the period immediately thereafter. An extension was added on the east side in the mid 16th century. Airth Castle was owned by Falcones. Mary Bruce, a daughter of the laird of Airth, was a companion of Mary, Queen of Scots in England. The family were Jacobite sympathizers who were forced to sell after the failure of the 1715 rising.

The castle is a major historic building that retains much medieval fabric. As such, Historic Environment Scotland has designated it a Category A listed building. The ruins of the former parish church of Airth are within the grounds.

Airth Castle is owned by Airth Castle Limited and was operated by Airth Castle Hotel & Spa, a company formed in 2004. It was a popular wedding venue. The operator entered administration and ceased trading in March 2023.Parts of the Airth Castle Hotel building were destroyed when a fire broke out during the early hours of 23 September 2024.

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Ah, that is a shame to see. I imagine it will go the way of Cambusneathan Priory and end up a crumbling shell :frowning:

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I hope not, would be such a waste if it did. Was always one of my favourite places to work, highlight of the day was when they’d get all the guests outside the castle and march them, accompanied by the piper, down hill to the hotel for their wedding meal.

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Here’s a few more of how it looked.

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What a pity, I stayed at the hotel a few times when working in the Grangemouth depot.
I have some photos from then, your photo of the front, JCP004 is almost identical one of mine (from memory!)
I remember breakfast here was excellent, my first experience of ‘tattie scones’.

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You can’t beat a tatiie scone, particularly tasty on a morning roll with square sausage, bacon and a fried egg :face_savoring_food:

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It is such a shame to see buildings that fall into this state.

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