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Thornton Castle is a small square tower house dated 1531, 3-storey with elaborately corbelled parapet with angle rounds, and a crow-stepped cap-house. A lower 2-storey wing dated 1662 connects this to a 3-storey high round tower, at the northeast corner, which is said to be the oldest part of the building, the base of which is a survival of a 14th Century building. The castle was remodelled in the 19th Century with the crenellated parapets on the wing, top stage of the round tower buttresses and the chimneyheads probably of that date. Further alterations and additions were made later. A weather-vane bears the date of 1680. The basement is vaulted, the turnpike stair wide for the period. The Hall, on the first floor is now panelled but bears traces of tempera painting behind. The property belonged to the Thornton family in the 13th Century but in 1309 an heiress carried the lands to the Strachans, in whose possession it remained until 1683 when it transferred to a Forbes, then Fullartons, Gardenstones and in the 19th Century to the Crombies. In 1893 it was purchased by Sir Thomas Thornton, and is still owned by the Thornton family.
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Historic Environment Records (HER)