By the Tay, near Perth, Elcho Castle is a Z-plan tower house built around 1560 by the Wemyss family. It illustrates to perfection the compromise of the Scottish Renaissance: an unusual comfort for the age, without quite giving up defence.
Comfort and gunloops
Raised around 1560 by Sir John Wemyss, Elcho offers rare refinements: several chambers with private access, a great chamber of state — signs of a new taste for privacy and comfort. But caution remains: the tower keeps seventeen gunloops. This coexistence of pleasure and defence is the very signature of the sixteenth-century Scottish tower house. The builder's son, David Wemyss, took part in the preparations for the marriage of James VI and Anne of Denmark (1589), anchoring the family in the Stuart court. To see: the great hall and great chamber, the turnpike stair in its turret, the vaulted ground floor and the sixteenth-century dovecote.
Did you know?
Elcho ranges seventeen gunloops while offering comfortable private chambers: proof that in the Renaissance, a Scottish laird wanted both to receive as a gentleman and to defend himself as a soldier — the pleasure castle had not yet quite disarmed.
Notes
Elcho Castle lies about 6 km south-east of Perth; a site in the care of Historic Environment Scotland. Hours to check.
Quiz
- What is unusual about Elcho for its age?
- A real comfort (private chambers)
- A gilded dome
- A theatre
- How many gunloops does the tower keep?
- Seventeen
- None
- Two hundred
- In which royal event did David Wemyss take part?
- The marriage of James VI and Anne of Denmark (1589)
- The coronation of Henry VIII
- The defeat of the Armada