The surviving structures, which include part of an east wing and a corner tower, offer tantalising glimpses of a grand residence that evolved through the 17th century. Originally granted to Sir Thomas Dutton by the English Crown in 1627, the property included a castle, town and lands that were formed into the Manor of Rathclyne. The estate changed hands in 1649 when Sir George Lane purchased it, and around 1667 he undertook significant remodelling work, commemorated by an armorial plaque that once adorned the building.

A remarkable manuscript plan from the late 1600s reveals the house’s ambitious H-shaped layout, with a central block running east to west and asymmetrical wings extending north and south. The east wing, which connected to an older tower house and stretched beyond the defensive bawn wall, featured an angle tower at its northeast corner that served dual purposes as both a service tower for the house and a defensive position for the bawn. The grandeur of the interior is captured in a 1688 household inventory that lists an array of rooms including a Damask room, dining room, two drawing rooms, various bedchambers, nurseries and servants’ quarters. The estate was enhanced with formal walled gardens complete with projecting towers, fish ponds, orchards and a deer park, creating what Nicholas Dowdall described in 1682 as “a very noble and spacious house… being very pleasant and well Improved.”

Today’s ruins tell the story of the house’s two main construction phases through architectural details like the contrasting window styles; early 17th century transom and mullion windows sit alongside taller vertical openings that likely held wooden sash windows from the later renovation. The surviving walls, built of rubble limestone with distinctive alternating long and short quoins, retain evidence of impressive fireplaces, including a fine cut-stone example at first floor level. String courses with concave moulding mark the floor levels, whilst gun loops in the angle tower walls remind visitors of the property’s defensive requirements during turbulent times. The house met its end during the Williamite Wars, when it was burnt and reduced to ruins by 1793, though late 18th century illustrations by Henry Brocas and Daniel Grose captured its final appearance as a roofless three-storey shell with tall chimney stacks still reaching skyward.