Claypotts Castle

01 / The Strachan family

A house to announce their arrival

John Strachan built Claypotts in the later sixteenth century. His family had held the land as tenants of Lindores Abbey, across the Tay in Fife. Over time they gained the standing of hereditary landowners. The tower made that change visible: a small laird’s family could command a substantial house and advertise its position through carved stone and an ambitious roofline.

The dates 1569 and 1588 survive high on the building. They are often presented as the start and finish of a nineteen-year construction project. HES’s detailed assessment is more cautious: the stones might commemorate events in Strachan’s life. It considers substantial building work to have taken place by 1569, with the castle broadly complete by 1588.

The familiar date range remains useful, provided it is not treated as a surviving building contract. The walls retain clues to separate phases, and the exact sequence still invites investigation.

02 / Reading the building

Where circles become squares

The Z-plan is easiest to understand from above: a rectangular central block has a round tower at each of two opposite corners. Smaller stair turrets fit into the angles. At roof level, courses of projecting stone support square chambers over the circular towers. This is corbelling, and at Claypotts it creates the wonderful impression of one kind of house perched on another.

The low gun openings give the building a defensive appearance, but its scale and arrangement also speak of comfort and display. A hall occupied the first floor, with chambers in the towers and an upper space interpreted as a gallery. The paired spiral stairs helped separate routes through this compact household.

Our old entry described one staircase for family and one for staff. HES now interprets the northern stair as private and the southern as a public or guest route. Even the original roofline was more elaborate: lost dormers and balconies once added further detail.

03 / The working household

Fire, water and the people behind the rooms

The kitchen survives in the basement of the south tower. Its arched hearth has a small oven beside it, while a basin drains through the wall. Beneath the stair, space for a water barrel connects with a stone channel that brought in collected rainwater. These are the practical workings of a house that needed feeding, washing and heating.

Documents from 1594 bring the surrounding estate into focus: wheat, oats and peas; oxen, milk cows and sheep; four ploughmen, a shepherd and three household servants. Claypotts belonged to a farming landscape, although modern homes now stand close around it.

The preserved rooms make those records tangible. The kitchen and hall belonged to a daily circuit of fuel, food and service, sustained by people whose work continued beyond the castle door.

04 / Owners and survival

The Claverhouse connection

William Graham of Ballunie acquired Claypotts in 1601. It later passed to the Claverhouse branch of the family, and John Graham, Viscount Dundee, became its most famous owner. His military and political reputation followed the building into its ghost stories.

Ownership does not establish residence. The familiar assertion that Graham never stayed here is firmer than the evidence allows: HES’s 2019 assessment finds his actual use uncertain and considers possible work during his ownership. Claypotts should not be presented confidently as either his home or somewhere he never entered.

After the 1689 Jacobite rising, the forfeited lands passed to the Douglas family. Later occupants included farm servants; by the later nineteenth century the roofed building was being used for storage. State guardianship began in 1926.

Much early timber survives. Repairs in 1983–84 strengthened the roof with a modern frame while retaining its old structure. Claypotts’ survival includes careful intervention as well as centuries of use.

05 / The White Lady tradition

The woman at the window

Our 2012 Scottish Paranormal article records a White Lady said to appear at a castle window each 29 May. It gives the traditional identification as Marion Ogilvie, partner of Cardinal David Beaton, who was murdered at St Andrews in 1546. The entry also points out the problem: the surviving Claypotts was built later, and Marion was associated with Melgund Castle.

Martin Coventry’s account preserves the same annual appearance and the same chronological difficulty. The story joins a memorable figure, a window and a precise anniversary. Those details give it the shape of a vigil, but they do not establish Marion’s presence at Claypotts.

Neither the older Scottish Paranormal entry nor Coventry supplies a dated witness statement describing an encounter. What survives here is an attributed haunting tradition. Its uncertain identity is part of the story, and the old article’s sensible qualification remains worth keeping.

06 / A second strand of folklore

The helper who would not stay

The brownie belongs to a different kind of castle story. In the version published by Angus Folklore in 2014, a supernatural household helper carries out chores while the servants sleep, asking only for a bowl of cream. Human laziness eventually drives it away, with the kitchen maid singled out for its anger.

Coventry also records a brownie leaving because of a lazy servant, although his version is brief. The fuller retelling belongs to folklore, rather than a documented episode involving identifiable members of the Strachan household.

Placed beside the surviving kitchen, the tale has a particularly fitting setting: a story about the burden of domestic work in a house where the hearth and water arrangements remain visible. That connection helps us picture the tradition without turning the building itself into evidence for the creature.

07 / Planning a visit

Look up before you leave

HES currently allows the exterior to be viewed throughout the year. Interior access is offered on specified free open dates. When checked on 15 September 2026, the official page listed Sunday 27 September, from 10am to 4.30pm, with last entry at 4pm and a lunch closure from 12.30pm to 1.30pm. No booking was required for that advertised opening.

Check the official page before travelling: this is a dated opening, not a regular Sunday timetable. The address is Claypotts Road, Dundee, DD5 3JY, off the A92 at Claypotts Junction. There is no dedicated car park; HES asks visitors using nearby streets to consider residents.

Even an exterior visit rewards a slow circuit. Follow the round towers upwards, find the projecting chambers, and notice how much changes as you move around the corners.