Almond Castle is a ruined L-plan castle dating from the 15th century. The estate originally belonged to the Crawford family, and they built the castle in about 1470. In about 1540 it passed by marriage to the Livingstones, who built an extension at the south west. They also built an extension along the south east wall in 1586. When James Livingstone was created Baron Livingstone of Almond in 1633 the castle’s name was changed to Almond from Haining. After the Jacobite rising of 1715 the castle was forfeited to the crown by the Livingstone Earls of Callendar. It was abandoned in the 1750s. In 1783 the ruin was sold to William Forbes by the York Buildings Company.
The ruin has a vaulted basement. The hall was on the first floor, while there is a kitchen in the wing. There is a courtyard, with a wall and ditch, enclosing the remains of 16th-century buildings. The castle was four storeys and a garret high. The entrance, on the long south east face, gave access to the first floor.
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.