---
title: "Blair Castle, Perthshire · Rampant Scotland"
description: "Blair Castle is eight miles north of Pitlochry in the very heart of Perthshire. King James II gave the title and estate of the Earl of Atholl to his half brothe"
canonical: "https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/castles/blcastles_blair.htm"
last-updated: "2026-11-11"
date-basis: "git-content-change"
---

# Blair Castle, Perthshire · Rampant Scotland

Castles

# Blair Castle, Perthshire

[Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20220817233020/http://www.rampantscotland.com/castles/blcastles_blair.htm)

Restored from the raw archived page capture: original scripts, advertisements and shared site navigation removed. Original wording, photographs and layout order preserved.

Blair Castle, Perthshire

>

** Blair Castle is eight miles north of Pitlochry in the very heart of Perthshire. King James II gave the title and estate of the Earl of Atholl to his half brother, Sir John Stewart of Balvenie, in 1457.

The direct Stewart succession was broken at the end of the 16th century when the 5th Earl died without sons and the title passed through a daughter who married Sir William Murray of Tullibardine. Their son became the 1st Murray Earl of Atholl and the title has remained in that family ever since.

During the Civil War in the middle of the 17th century, the castle was occupied by Cromwell's forces but after the Restoration of King Charles II the 2nd Earl was made a marquis in 1676. Support of Queen Anne by the 2nd Marquis earned a dukedom in 1703.

During the Jacobite Uprisings of 1715 and 1745 there were divided loyalties, with some members of the family on each side. At one point, Lord George Murray, who commanded the Jacobite campaign in 1745/46, was in the unusual position of besieging his former home of Blair Castle.

 The castle had grown over the centuries but James, 2nd Duke of Atholl remodeled it in the style of a grand Georgian mansion after the 1745 Uprising.

See also [Places to Visit - Blair Castle](https://web.archive.org/web/20220817233020/http://www.rampantscotland.com/visit/blvisitblair.htm) for more information and illustrations.

**

**Return to the Castles Photo Library [Index](https://web.archive.org/web/20220817233020/http://www.rampantscotland.com/castles/blcastles_index.htm)
or go to the next castle: [Blairquhan CastleBlairquhan Castle](https://rampant-scotland.pages.dev/castles/blcastles_blairquhan.htm)**

---

## Source

From Rampant Scotland, restored from the page as it stood on 17 August 2022. [Original page](https://web.archive.org/web/20220817233020/http://www.rampantscotland.com/castles/blcastles_blair.htm).

Links to pages not yet restored here lead to the original page or elsewhere on the web; 1 of 3 links on this page are restored on this site.