Here's a shot of Carbet Castle in Camphill Road, Broughty Ferry, being demolished in July 1984.They actually had to go easy on the demolition when it was discovered the interior ceiling was still intact and considered to be a bit of a treasure, painted by French artist, Charles Frechou. The ceiling was carefully removed and put into storage.
The castle itself used to be owned by the Grimond family who ran the Bowbridge Jute Works.
Photo by Neale Elder.
I used to love looking up at this place from the Bus as a kid, it was like the Munsters Hoose, when they were demolishing it me and my bro went in with the camera's, I have lost all my old photos but I must see if he still has his, it was an amazing place, and if some of that new money you see disgustingly spent on Gas Guzzling status symbols or trendy bars around the Ferry was spent on this instead a worthy building would have been saved.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Stoo. We spent too much time demolishing old buildings and putting up crap.
ReplyDeleteStoo, please see if your Brother does still have his photos, I only took one of Carbert Castle and I SO regret not taking more of the Ferry in the 70s but pocket money was tight!! Carbert CAstle really fascinated me and there are some photos of the interior in the 1950s - it was derelict from around the 1930s at (I think) the RCAS in Edinburgh. When the Broughty library tried to get access to photograph the ceiling (which was always known about and not "lost") they were refused as the building was so infested with rot - which coincidently also did for Catrleroy in the 1950s!
ReplyDeleteA quick Google of Carbet Castle Camphill Road throws this up at the
ReplyDeletetop of the list.
http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/175174/details/dundee+broughty+ferry+camphill+road+carbet+castle/
Picture 4 shows the castle complete before it was part-demolished. Looks like just the remaining section being taken down in Retro's photos..?
Boggles the mind, that they could tear down such buildings...dry rot or no!
Have just had a look at the pics. Demolishing that place was an act of wanton vandalism. Angry.
ReplyDeleteThis event was immortalised in song by Altres - Jeremy Bryning wrote a poem called "We All Live in The Fountain" inspired by childhood days exploring the ruined castle and Altres set it to some rather experimental music!
ReplyDeleteStill miss Jeremy to this very day, he was a dear friend and a fellow band member. Listened to this recently and remembered making a lot of the abstract sounds in the background. Some of the best times were making sounds with Jeremy.
DeleteJeremy was Great..Nice to see folk remembering him.. Still have an Altez riff in my head...
DeleteMy recollection dates from the 1950s - I used to get off the No.6/7/8 bus opposite the Post Office at the bottom of Forthill and walk along Dundee Road to the Eastern (School). So I walked past Camphill daily. Later as message boy for Donald Graham in Brook Street, I had to cycle round the area regularly. In those days, the grounds of Carbet Castle were used as the depot for a down-at-heel haulage company whose lorries were second hand, a bit ramshackle and coloured red and blue, having apparently been painted in a sandstorm. Of Carbet Castle, the excellent book 'Dundee - an illustrated introduction' says 'The Grimonds camped here in an earlier house which they kept on extending in eccentric style as the size of the rival dynasty's palace (Castleroy) became apparent. Dry rot, being even-handed, did for the Grimonds as it had for the Gilroys.'
ReplyDeleteGreat photos on the link. There's still a bit of an odd house on Camphill Road, at top of Gray Street. Looks like it could have been part of the castle. A gate house maybe?
ReplyDeleteAmazing, I remember that in it's full glory. So sad to think it was left to rot.. Anyway - you wrote that the ceiling was put into storage - by whom? And where is it now, any idea?
ReplyDeleteWhen a schoolboy, I was allowed into Carbet Castle by one of the Watson brothers, who kept their lorries in and around the old Coach House. Even then (circa 1950) the staircase was in a dangerous state but we did manage to climb to the upstairs landing.
ReplyDeleteMight I just tell "George MacD" that it was the Watson brothers, who ran the "down-at-heel" transport business, which may have had second-hand vehicles but first class owners, I assure you.They were as kind chaps as anyone could wish to know.
George Watson, the youngest brother, was one of the brave lifeboat crew who died on that dreadful night in December of 1959
I too would love to see any more photos of Carbet Castle. My family were the Grimond's domestic servants so lived and worked there for most of the time the Grimonds were in residence. If the blogger would like to get in touch, I have lots of photos of it in its heyday, which I'm sure would be of interest.
ReplyDeleteEdmund (waves - hello!) has, I think, cracked why there was talk of a family connection with the loss of the Mona.
The didning room ceiling is in storage (somewhere - exactly where is elusive) with the RCAHMS, there's a single panel from another room in that wing propped up under a stairwell in the Duncan of Jordanstoun (spelling?) art college.
The Historian - the building you mention is the old gate lodge, which was seperated from the main house by enormous greenhouses.
Hi there,
DeleteWow this thread is so so interesting. My family recently acquired a camel statue/stone carving (I think it was part of carbet castles exterior wall?) at action from Curr and Dewar.
I understand that it was part of the Grimond family crest? Would it be possible for you to perhaps send some photos? We have a very close up shot of the camel in situ but it's very hard to place where it was exactly.
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Contact me at grayadrian3(at)gmail.com, and I'll see what I can find - obviously, replace (at)in the address above with @.
DeleteThank you so much for getting back to me! I've just emailed you 😊
DeleteThis house has fascinated me for as long as I can remember. As a child I travelled to school in Dundee from Carnoustie by train everyday. Myself and friends always turned to look at the (haunted house)as we called it on every journey. I now live abroad and recently made the train journey for the first time in years. My reaction when passing the Ferry was, where is the haunted house? After reading Lost Dundee by Charles McKean I finally found out a little of it's history. How sad that it is no longer there. Should anyone have more information or photos please pass on the tip as to where this can be found.
ReplyDeleteI used to work with the council conservation officer at that time and remember clambering around the building taking photographs of anything that remained before the demolition. It really was in a terrible state. We discovered that some of the old ceilings had miraculously survived and he arranged for them to be removed. I thought the art college had both pieces.
ReplyDeleteI remember that the paintings included cherubs with bagpipes.
Carbet Castle and Castle Roy, also long gone, also in The Ferry,were classic examples of mine's bigger than yours syndrome, as the Grimmonds and the Gilroys competed to own the biggest, grandest house.
Meanwhile of course their workers lived in real poverty
Unknown calling Anonymous...
ReplyDeleteIf you still have any of those photos I'd be VERY interested! - if you post here, I'm sure we can work out how to get in touch.
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http://www.dundeecivictrust.co.uk/articles/carbet-castle.php
ReplyDeleteMy family owned Annfield House 1 Camphill Road.
ReplyDeleteI used to climb over the wall and go explore, it was easy to get in. A great story, but not much of a history of the original owners. That would be a great story
Why was the castle abandoned ? Did the Grimond family just walk away when the jute business went into liquidation ? Who owned the property for the years it was vacant ? I have always been curious. Any information would be appreciated hamishcrawford@ymail.com
ReplyDeleteHi Hamish, I'll email you in a bit, but I thought I'd reply here first. It's a while since I spoke to the Grimond family, but my understanding is that when old Mrs Grimond, Joseph Grimond's widow, died, the clauses of his will were invoked, and one was a vaguely worded one about the money being used for... hmm, religious instruction perhaps?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, as a result of this, the will was disputed for some time which took much of the money the sale of what was now a very unfashionable building might have raised, and this is when it became derelict. Quite why three quarters of it was pulled down I'm not sure, I'm afraid, perhaps to pay off some of the legal fees?
Thank you. At last some juice on the history of the family. I am the young chap that used to climb the wall between our house and the castle. My father bought Annfield House, 1 Camphill Rd in 1964.
ReplyDeleteAnnfield was a big house on one acre of land right at the corner of Fort Street and Camphill Road.
At the time nobody wanted these big properties, you could buy them for less than the price of a three bedroom bungalow. My parents furnished the place with furniture from Castle Roy, that went to auction and was sold for firewood !
I now have a farm on Vancouver Island, Canada, but have always been fascinated by the history of the “Ferry” and Dundee. Too bad they never talked about it at he Grove Academy. So much great history and all we heard about were battles in England five hundred years ago.