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Balhousie Castle

1631 establishments in ScotlandBuildings and structures completed in 1631Castles in Perth, ScotlandCategory B listed buildings in Perth and KinrossListed buildings in Perth, Scotland
Listed castles in ScotlandMuseums in Perth and KinrossRegimental museums in Scotland
Perth and Kinross Perth Balhousie Castle 1
Perth and Kinross Perth Balhousie Castle 1

Balhousie Castle, located in Perth, Scotland (on Hay Street, originally a few hundred metres north of the medieval town), was built in the 17th century.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Balhousie Castle (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Balhousie Castle
Hay Street, Perth Muirton

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 56.4034 ° E -3.4366 °
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Balhousie Castle

Hay Street
PH1 5HP Perth, Muirton
Scotland, United Kingdom
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Perth and Kinross Perth Balhousie Castle 1
Perth and Kinross Perth Balhousie Castle 1
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Nearby Places

North Inch
North Inch

North Inch is a large public park in Perth, Scotland. About 57 hectares (140 acres) in size, it is one of two "Inches" in Perth, the other being the smaller, 31-hectare South Inch, located half a mile across the city. The inches were granted to the city, when it was a royal burgh, by King Robert II in 1374. Both inches were once islands in the River Tay; today, they are connected by Tay Street, part of the A989. The inch was the site of the "Battle of the Clans" in 1396. Balhousie Castle and Bell's Sports Centre are located on its western edge. A path circumnavigates the entire park. Overlooking the southern edge of the Inch is the Old Academy, built between 1803 and 1807. Perth Bridge, which is also known as Smeaton's Bridge and the Old Bridge, is nearby. In the 1840s, a large addition was made to the Inch by an excambion with the Thomas Hay-Drummond, 11th Earl of Kinnoull, bringing it up to 100 acres (40 ha).Three years after her husband's death in 1861, Queen Victoria unveiled a statue of Albert, Prince Consort, at the Inch. The couple and their children had stayed at the city's Royal George Hotel in 1848. It was their first time staying in a hotel, an occurrence prompted by their inability to stay at nearby Scone Palace because William Murray, 4th Earl of Mansfield, was out of town.Another statue, an obelisk near the river bank, commemorates the 90th Regiment of Foot, the Perthshire Volunteers, alias the Grey Breeks. It was unveiled by Garnet Wolseley, 1st Viscount Wolseley, on 8 December 1896.Unveiled in 1995, the 51st (Highland) Division War Memorial commemorates the soldiers of that infantry lost in World War II. A bandstand formerly stood to the west of the obelisk, a gift of James Pullar.

Lower City Mills
Lower City Mills

Lower City Mills is part of a cluster of former watermill buildings, collectively known as City Mills, in Perth, Scotland. It was given Category A listed status in 1965 by Scotland's Ancient Monument Division (now Historic Environment Scotland). Milling has taken place at the location since the 14th century. Upper City Mills is at the same location, on West Mill Street, and they processed wheat, oats, barley and peas and incorporated beer production and bread made from some these milled ingredients.The "whole rights and privileges" of the mills were gifted by charter of King Robert II in 1375. Initially there were two buildings on the site, on either side of Perth Lade, whose water powered the mills' wheels. Each had its own water wheel. The one in the North building was dedicated to grinding oats, while the one in the South building produced pot barley and oats. These were consolidated into a single one in the centre of the building, measuring 3.7 metres in width and 4.7 metres in diameter.A map, drawn by military engineer Lewis Petit des Etans, dating from 1715 shows a mill at this site. Lower City Mills has had several rebuilds over the centuries. A fire in 1803 resulted in both buildings being rebuilt to a design by millwright John Stewart. It was he who reduced the number of wheels from two to one. The buildings in view today were reconstructed around 1805, when the city was in the midst of a milling boom.In 1807, a study found that the mills were worked by four waterfalls, totalling about thirteen feet from the upper mill to the lower mill. The volume of water in the lade in October of that year was 3,180 cubic feet, and the calculations suggested that, if properly harnessed, this would product the equivalent of a 60-horsepower steam engine.James Macdonald & Son Grain Merchants and Millers were based at the mills in the early 20th century. Its offices were at 52 South Methven Street.In 1938, the production of barley was stopped, and its machinery removed to make space for the storage of oats. This refurbishment also introduced an early electrical motor to drive an automatic oat-drying kiln. This allowed the water wheel to focus its power on sifting, dressing and grinding oats until 1953, when business started to slow. The demand for oatmeal was falling with the rise in popularity of British-grown wheat for bread, as well as the competition from larger, more modern, producers, who could perform the same procedure at reduced cost and more efficiently.Two further electric motors were installed in an attempt to halt the mill's decline, but production ceased in 1966.In the 1980s, Perth and Kinross District Council, with the support of The Gannochy Trust, amongst others, oversaw a complete overhaul of the mill.During the late 1980s and through the 1990s, it produced mainly wheat flour for a local bakery, and along with the building's accommodation of new craft workshops and a tearoom, it became a tourist attraction.In 2001 it became the home of Perth Visitor Information Centre and the Perthshire Tourist Board, and then VisitScotland until June 2019.The structure has been on the Buildings at Risk Register since 2012, but in November 2019, Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust assumed a caretaker role of the building as both office space and with a vision for a sustainable new future for the building.