Qualla: Claypotts Castle https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Claypotts Castle https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle Claypotts Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle/ Photo credit Bubobubo2, CC BY-SA 3.0. A castle that took nearly twenty years to finish - 1569 to 1588 - is an unusual thing. Most lairds wanted their towers up and roofed within five. Whatever John Strachan was building at Claypotts, he was in no hurry. The dates carved into the stones tell the story, and what they describe is now one of the best-preserved Z-plan tower houses in Scotland: a building that survived its abandonment, its irrelevance, its absorption into suburban Dundee, and the long battle in the law courts that decided who owned it. Around it, modern bungalows. Inside it, the 16th century, preserved like a fly in amber.

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Image: Bubobubo2 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/gfjc-claypotts-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Claypotts Castle: A Z-Plan in West Ferry https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle/ Photo credit James Denham, CC BY-SA 2.0. Claypotts is what historians of Scottish architecture call a Z-plan tower house: a rectangular main block with two projecting circular towers at opposite corners, allowing defenders to fire along the building's main faces from either tower. It was a popular layout in the 16th cen...

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Image: James Denham | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/gfjc-claypotts-castle-a-z-plan-in-west-ferry.mp3 0:06 2 full Claypotts Castle: Owners, Heirs, and a Killiecrankie Death https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle/ Photo credit PaulT (Gunther Tschuch), CC BY-SA 4.0. In 1601 the Strachans sold Claypotts to Sir William Graham of Ballunie, who later passed it to Sir William Graham of Claverhouse. Through that line, the castle eventually came into the possession of John Graham of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee - the soldier romanticised as "Bonnie...

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Image: PaulT (Gunther Tschuch) | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/gfjc-claypotts-castle-owners-heirs-and-a-killiecrankie-death.mp3 0:06 3 full Claypotts Castle: The Brownie and the Lazy Maid https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle/ Photo credit Creator:Great Britain. Board of Trade, Public domain. Every old Scottish house collects its legends, and Claypotts has at least one good one. The tale tells of a brownie - one of the household spirits of Scottish folklore - who lived in the castle and helped the servants with their work. Brownies were notoriously particular about be...

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Image: Creator:Great Britain. Board of Trade | Public domain

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/gfjc-claypotts-castle-the-brownie-and-the-lazy-maid.mp3 0:06 4 full Claypotts Castle: Surrounded by the Modern World https://qualla.com/claypotts-castle/ Photo credit Ydam, CC BY-SA 3.0. What makes Claypotts unusual today is its setting. The castle stands in the West Ferry suburb of Dundee, surrounded by 20th-century housing - bungalows and post-war estates pressing up against the medieval walls. There is no traditional castle landscape: no surrounding parkland, ...

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Image: Ydam | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/c/claypotts-castle-wp/gfjc-claypotts-castle-surrounded-by-the-modern-world.mp3 0:06 5 full