Airthrey Castle

Airthrey Castle is a historic building and estate which now forms part of the buildings and grounds of the University of Stirling in central Scotland.There are two suggested origins of the name "Airthrey" - a corruption of Ard-rhedadie (a high or ascending road, referring to the old road which leads through it to Sheriffmuir), or from the Gaelic "Aithrin" - "a sharp point" or "conflict". This could refer to a battle fought near the site of the Castle in 839, when the Picts were defeated by the Scots under Kenneth McAlpine.The name appears in a charter of King David I, thought to be from before 1146. In 1370, the estate was granted to Sir John Herice, Keeper of the nearby Stirling Castle. Then the land passed to William Graham, 3rd Lord Graham, for gallantry he displayed in the Battle of Sauchieburn in 1488 (in which King James III was killed attempting to subdue a group of rebel barons.). He was made Earl of Montrose in 1504 but died at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. The estate remained in the ownership of the Clan Graham down to James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, who fought a campaign in support of King Charles I from 1644 to 1650. By this time, the Airthrey Estate was in the ownership of a minor branch of the Grahams.

Tags: Historical Place