Continued entries/extra info

5 Trace 1. 24D Markinch Parish

[Quotation] Balgonie Castle continued
Balgony, one of the seats of Leslie Earl of Leven, who has considerably enlarged the House, and made new Gardens and vast enclosures round it on both sides of the Leven. It was the seat of a very ancient family of the name of Sibbald; George Douglas Earl of Angus who died anno 1461. married Elizabeth Daughter to Sir Andrew Sibbald of Balgony." Sibbalds Fife & Kinross.

[Quotation]
"The most ancient part of this venerable structure consists of a donjon or keep, 80 feet in height, and 45 by 36 over walls. The basement story, dimly lighted by a single narrow slit in the massive thickness of the walls, seems to have served as a prison. It is vaulted, as well as the story above. The summit is surrounded by slightly projecting battlements, with circular tourelles at the angles. The roof is flat, and paved with square slabs of freestone. In 1823 the Balgonie estate was purchased for the sum of £104,000 by James Balfour, Esq. of Whittingham, brother of the late General Balfour of Balbirnie, who it is understood designs to rebuild the Castle, at present fast hastening to decay." New Stat. Acct. [Statistical Account]