Balvaird Castle is a particularly fine and complete example
of a traditional late medieval Scottish tower house, built around the year 1500
for Sir Andrew Murray, a younger son of the family of Murray of Tullibardine.
He acquired the lands of Balvaird in Perthshire through marriage to the heiress
Margaret Barclay, a member of a wealthy family. It is likely that Balvaird
Castle was built on the site of an earlier Barclay family castle. Substantial
remnants of earthwork fortifications around the Castle may survive from earlier
defences.