A castle reborn

Glamis Castle, Angus, part 1 The seat of the Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne In the first of two articles, John Goodall explores the development of this medieval castle and its spectacular transformation into one of the landmark buildings of Scottish architecture

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ON May 29, 1660—the very same day as Charles II's 30th birthday and triumphant re-entry into London at the Restoration—a 17-year-old student set out from St Andrews University, with a dog as his only companion, to take control of his ruinous patrimony and inherited debts.

Patrick Lyon, then 3rd Earl of Kinghorne, was likewise born on May 29 and would later see in this triple coincidence with the King's life an echo of the restoration of his own fortune. Writing in his idiosyncratically compiled diary and notebook that survives at Glamis, known as The Book of Record, he described his arrival the following day—May 30—at the first of his inherited seats, Castle Lyon (now HMP Castle Huntly), Carse of Gowrie, Perth & Kinross. There, in its massive tower, he 'found nothing but bare walls and not so much as one bed to lie down in'.

The state of the castle was a product of complex misfortunes stretching back over many years. As Lyon explained, he inherited his title and deeply indebted estates in 1647 at the age of four, at the height of the Civil Wars. His father, a friend-turned-opponent of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, had exhausted a fortune raising troops. Thereafter, his mother remarried, but her death in 1659 further compounded his difficulties.

Resisting 'the satisfaction which the most part of youth of that age desire, of going abroad and travelling', he became instead 'addicted to the restoring of my family to some condition of living'.