Kinneil House

In the central east of Scotland, Kinneil House is a castle distinguished by its history and the discovery of valuable wall paintings that saved it from demolition.

The Kinneil estates, which included Larbert and Auldcathy, were already owned by Walter Fitz Gilbert, an ancestor of the Hamilton family, in 1323. A charter from 1474 confirms the existence of a castle named "Craig Lyown" at this location. James Hamilton, the 1st Earl of Arran, died at Kinneil in 1529. The current castle was rebuilt in 1677 by William Douglas, the 3rd Duke of Hamilton, on the foundations of an older 15th-century tower house.