OS1/14/73/28A

Continued entries/extra info

[Page] 28A

Castle of Ballumbie

Forfarshire Illustrated
Page 37

A considerable part of this building , the name of
which is said to signify the "Bare Yellow Town"
remains near the modern mansion house, in the
parish of Murroes, and about 4 miles from Dundee
by the road to Brechin, which separates from
the old road to Montrose and Arbroath at Baldovie
Toll Bar. The time of the erection of the castle, and
the name of the erector, seem both to have escaped
record, though it is evident it can claim con-
siderable antiquity; and though not mentioned,
it may be presumed from its proximity to Broughty,
that it shared the same fate as the castle of Powrie.
It may be added that the ruins occupy a beautiful
position, and with the surrounding scenery
form a very pleasing picture

New Stat Acct. [Statistical Account] page 593

And Ballumbie was the seat of a family of Anglo-
Norman extraction of the name of Lovel, which has
long been extinct . . . . A tradition prevails
that Catherine Douglas, a personage of great celebrity
in ancient Scottish story, was espoused to the heir-ap-
parent of the last mentioned family, and dwelt in
* the Castle. This lady merited and has obtained unqualified
applause for the bold and magnanimous though unavailing
resistance she offered to the conspirators who assassinated
the ablest and most estimable of the Stuarts, King James 1.
of Scotland, in the Blackfriars monastery at Perth.

* This fatally successful attempt upon the life of James 1, I find from
Forfarshire illustrated, page 37, to have occurred on the night of the
20th Feby. [February] 1437. This date may serve as an index to the antiquity of
the Castle, two walls of which remain and present a very
antiquated appearance -
[Signed] J. Keely
2nd Cor: R.E. [2nd Corporal Royal Engineers]