Castle Menzies in Scotland is the ancestral seat of the Clan Menzies and the Menzies Baronets for over 500 years. Strategically situated, the sixteenth-century castle was involved in the turbulent history of the highlands.
In 1840 an entirely new wing was added, designed by William Burn using stone from the same quarry on south side of Loch Tay.
Duleep Singh, last maharajah of the Sikh Empire, lived at Castle Menzies between 1855 and 1858, following his exile from the Punjab in 1854. He was officially the ward of Sir John Spencer Login and Lady Login, who leased the castle for him.
The castle, restored by the Menzies Clan Society after 1957, is an example of architectural transition between an earlier tradition of rugged fortresses and a later one of lightly defensible châteaux. The walls are of random rubble, originally harled (roughcast), but the quoins, turrets and door and window surrounds are of finely carved blue freestone. This attractive and extremely hard-weathering stone was also used for the architectural details and monuments at the nearby Old Kirk of Weem, which was built by the Menzies family and contains their monuments and funeral hatchments.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.