I was going to do some research and post something on Kerse House and in checking through the notes I have been sent I found that a bit of work had already been done again. The following extract is from a book Ancient Castles and Mansions of Stirling Nobility 1902, described and illustrated by J S Fleming and which is available for reading online or download as a pdf or txt file.Best of all its FREE! If reading isnt your thing just skip the stuff below and check out the images. The postcard image is probably early 20th century post 1901 and the house was effectively abandoned in 1925 when the roof was removed and the building allowed to crumble until final demolition in the late 50s. In 1936 and 1937 the Earl of Zetland granted permission for the Stone from the house to be reused to build St Marys Episcopal Church in Ronaldshay Crescent. There are more notes about the house that I will review and post in the future. CHAPTER XXXV. ANCIENT CASTLES AND MANSIONS OF STIRLING NOBILITY By James Sturk Fleming Kers or Kerse Castle (Zetland House). About one mile west of Grangemouth on the Larbert Road, this mansion (sketch, page 327 Admin: see attached drawing) is situated. It has replaced a very ancient tower and fortalice, or castle, which existed on West Kerse estate, built by John Menteith some short time previous to 1469. About 300 yards west of it and in front of the great gate to the gardens, there are some loose stones, overgrown with ferns and brushwood, near which is the old sun dial (sketch below) containing the arms of a Hope and his wife, which would seem to mark the site of the old tower. The extensive gardens, including this site, are entirely surrounded by a wide moat 40 feet broad, and having the depth of 4 feet, now dry ; but a burn runs close by, whose waters probably were formerly used to fill it. No other vestige of ruins is visible of this very ancient stronghold, for such it seems to have been rather than an ordinary mansion, and from its figure on Ponts Map of 1654, and large grounds surrounded by the moat, must have been an extensive series of buildings. The sketch of the present mansion, now called Zetland House, is taken from the lawn at its rear or south side, and comprehends all the older, and therefore most interesting, parts of it. But even the oldest part does not seem earlier than the middle of the seventeenth century, although the change of structure by modern alterations, which include a new front and an upper storey, prevents any decided opinion. No doubt the stones of the older mansion were utilized in building it when the former, with its confined restrictions and inconveniences of a fortified house, was abandoned for the greater accommodation afforded by the latter. No coat of arms, initials, or date is visible, except that on the old sun dial, referred to above. It represents Sir Thomas Hopes, Lord Justice General, proprietor of Kerse, impaled with his wifes arms, three bucks heads. She was Helen Rae, daughter of Alan Rae of Pitsendie. As Sir Thomas, born in 1606, had died in 1643, his occupation of the Castle was probably 1630, and to him may be ascribed the erection of the mansion. Kers or Kars seems to have been Crown lands, and so early as David II. were mortified by him to the Abbot and Convent of the Holy Cross, Edinburgh, for an annual rent of £60 in alms and for a daily mass at the great altar of that church for the souls of this king and his predecessors. This grant is repeated by Robert III in 1390. In April, 1450, in the description of the boundaries in a deed of neighbouring lands granted by James II., it gives the Kers lands the distinctive name by which they were subsequently known as West Cars on the water of Carroun. As it is on 26th July, 1469, just 19 years afterwards, that the designation of a John Menteith, one of a deputation, is of Kersc, it is not unlikely he was the first owner and the builder of the old tower and fortalice. About 1476, John was succeeded by his son William, upon whom James IV. subsequently conferred knighthood and the office of Sheriff of Clackmannanshire, formerly held by John Shaw, along with a grant of the lands and Barony of Aloway. In 1488 a bitter feud existed between the Menteiths and Bruces of Airth, and William Menteith becomes bound for himself, his son and brother, to keep Robert Brois of Airth and Edward and Lucas, his brothers, scaithless ; and Brois also becomes bound, along with the Earl of Bothwell, similarly to keep free from harm the Menteiths, and engage to settle their disputes by law. In February, 1491, William and his wife, Margaret Muschet, appear as defenders in an action by James Muschet — evidently a family dispute. In 1508, William, designed as Lord of the Barony of Aloway, being apparently childless, executes a conveyance to his nephew and heir apparent, William Menteith, and Elene Bruse, his spouse, of lands in Aloway, and, in 1510, sells to Sir William Stirling of Cader his lands of Ochiltree. On 18th February, 1509, James IV. grants a new charter to William Menteith of Kerse, incorporating de nova these lands with others into one free Barony of West Kerse, formerly held in capite of the king and the character of the ancient buildings is derived from the description therein, the lands of West Kerse, with Tower, Fortalice and Manor, garden, orchards, and fishings in the Yares, etc. Sir William was succeeded by John sometime prior to 1566, when we find John and Bruce of Tulyallan incurring the indignation of Mary Queen of Scots and Darnley, for the troubles in their Barony of Clackmannan, and are prohibited from keeping the fair — John, Earl of Mar taking charge of it. John was succeeded by Sir William, who, on 15th January, 1629, in great extremity, with his lady appeals for protection from his creditors to Charles I., who refused it until they conformed to the true religion professed within that our kingdom, the Bishop of Rosse reporting them under process. This necessitated the sale of the estate to Sir Thomas Hope, from whose family by marriage contract, on 18th March, 1788, it seemingly passed to Sir Thomas Dundas, in whose descendants it remains. Cpyright is in the Public Domain. Source:https://archive.org/details/ancientcastlesma00flem
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 05:23:13 +0000
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