Balmuto Castle

Balmuto Castle

In 1320 AD King Robert the Bruce granted John Glen a charter for the lands Balmuto, Fife, Scotland (Robertson, 1798). It is likely that the grant for Balmuto was for service in the Wars of Scottish Independence. During that time he was named as the commander of troops belonging to the Bishop of Glasgow Robert Wishart. In 1300 AD he was involved with William Wallace and Robert the Bruce in successfully resisting the Prince of Wales from invading Galloway, Scotland (Low, 1856). It is likely he was involved in other campaigns including the decisive battle of Bannockburn but no other records of his service have been found.

The Glens of Balmuto probably built some kind of fortification at Balmuto and it may have been incorporated into the current castle’s tower house that dates to the 1400s. The original tower measures 10.1m by 8.1m and is rectangular in shape (Coventry, 2015). It is three stories high and the ground floor was vaulted. The original entrance was located at the first floor but is now sealed. Two wings where added in the 1500-1600s and the internal parts of the castle have been modernized (Coventry, 2015).

The lands of Balmuto remained in the family of Glen until passing to the Boswells via the marriage of Lady Mariota Glen to Sir John Boswell of Balgregie in the 1400s (Rogers, 1888). The castle was restored between 1974-1984 and is currently the private home of the Boswell family.

References

Coventry, M. (2015). The castles of Scotland: a comprehensive guide to more than 4,100 castles, towers, historic houses, stately homes and family lands. Prestonpans: Goblinshead. Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.stravaiging.com/history/castle/balmuto-castle

Robertson, W. (1798). An index, drawn up about the year 1629, of many records of charters, granted by the different sovereigns of Scotland between the years 1309 and 1413, most of which records have been long missing. Printed by Murray & Cochrane, Edinburgh

Rogers, C. (1888). Memorials of the Scottish family of Glen. Edinburgh: Privately printed. Retrieved February 10, 2016, from https://archive.org/details/memorialsofscglen00roge

Low, A. (1856). Scottish Heroes, in the Days of Wallace and Bruce (Vol. 1). London: Hurst and Blackett. Retrieved January 20, 2017, from https://books.google.com/books?id=scBJAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false