It has been estimated as being built around 1566 for Sir Alexander Forrester. It was once the seat of Clan Forrester. The castle was built by the Lords Forrester, who supplied the Crown with timber and were in charge of a royal hunting area. The castle is a Scottish Baronial style castle.
Although the castle is not open to the public, it can be enjoyed by the public for photography and walks around the main buildings, and inside the ruined walls.
Torwood Castle stands about two miles north east of the town of Denny. To reach it you take a minor road that turns off the A9 in the village of Torwood, which you then follow for a third of a mile before encountering a track on your left signposted as a pedestrian right of way.
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View from South East
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This is fairly rough, but driving a hundred yards or so along it brings you to an open area on the left, which is where you should leave your car.
Opposite the parking area a wooden bridge marks the start of the path through the forest to Tappoch Broch, but to reach Torwood Castle you continue on foot along the gently climbing track for a little under half a mile.
Your first sight of Torwood Castle is from the north and if the sun is shining this means you will be presented with an imposing silhouette of what appears to be a remarkably complete and well preserved castle. When David MacGibbon and Thomas Ross visited during the research for their definitive guide to castles, published in 1892, the castle was known as "Torwoodhead Castle". It isn't clear when the name subsequently changed, but today it seems to be known only as Torwood Castle.
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The Castle Kitchen
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According to a date stone found in a nearby ditch in 1918, Torwood Castle was built in 1566. It is of architectural interest because it sits at a transitional point in the development of castles into mansions, and as a result has features of both.
The castle is built on an L-plan, with a long rectangular main block running approximately east-west, with a small wing projecting to the north from the north-west corner. Within the re-entrant angle is a small square stair tower.
The entrance is by way of a small door on the east side of the extending wing, and above it is a carved niche for an armorial panel, which is missing. Surrounding this niche, and extending around this wing and the stair tower, is a decorative carved rail detail at a height of around two metres.
The courtyard was originally enclosed by ranges of buildings on all three sides, and traces of a kitchen garden have been found to the south of the main range. Nothing of this is evident today, and presumably the oblong water-filled pit that with the eye of faith could almost be part of a moat is actually an unfilled excavation trench that was dug to explore the garden.
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View from the South
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In 1957 a Glasgow Accountant a Mr. Millar purchased the castle by then a ruin and a labour of love started over the next 40 years he slowly began to restore it single handed and when he passed away in 1998 he left the castle to the Torwood castle Trust who sofar have failed to live up to the job in hand and the castle will be lost unless action is taken.
Pictures taken by myself, view more HERE
Read more about Torwood Castle HERE
Torwood Castle Location.. HERE
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