Scotstarvit Tower

PricingFreeFree for all visitors

Free entry for everyone

Entry

Free for everyone

Pricing details

Free for everyone; the tower itself is closed and the grounds open from 1 April to 30 September. No membership card is needed. The National Trust for Scotland charges £4 a day at the Hill of Tarvit car park where visitors park (free for its members).

ParkingPay to park

No parking at the tower: Historic Scotland directs visitors to the National Trust for Scotland's Hill of Tarvit car park, about a mile away, £4 a day (free for Trust members). Not a Trust car park, so membership does not cover it.

Parking details

Historic Scotland: there is no parking at the tower, but visitors can park at the Hill of Tarvit Mansionhouse car park, about a mile away, which is run by the National Trust for Scotland and charged. The Trust charges £4 a day and parks its own members and Kingarrock golfers free; Historic Scotland and English Heritage cards give no reduction there. Toilets at the car park open daily when the mansion is open.

Driving pin: the Hill of Tarvit car park, off the A916 about 2 miles south of Cupar, 923 m north-east of the tower. Historic Scotland does not describe the walk between them; the tower stands in farmland above the Craigrothie Burn, reached by a lane and an earth track, and is not suitable for cars. Historic Scotland gives journey planners only.

About

Three miles south of Cupar, above the River Eden and the Craigrothie Burn, Scotstarvit is a remarkably well preserved L-plan tower house of six floors, with a spiral stair in its small wing. It was probably built by the Inglis family about 1500 and rebuilt by the Edinburgh lawyer Sir John Scot, who bought the estate in 1611. Scot was a Lord of Session, a poet and a patron of learning who made the tower a kind of college for scholars; after falling from favour when Cromwell arrived in 1650 he wrote The Staggering State of the Scots Statesmen. The tower has curious gaps: no kitchen, and no windows on the fifth floor. Its attic fireplace, carved with the initials of Sir John and his wife Anne Drummond, was moved to Hill of Tarvit nearby. The tower is closed and seen from outside; the grounds open from April to September. Park at Hill of Tarvit, about a mile away, and walk the lane.

Check today’s timesSee all times

Scotstarvit TowerClosed for the season (grounds open 1 April to 30 September; the tower itself is closed); reopens 1 April 2027

Opening times may change at short notice.

Historic Scotland: 'The tower is currently closed, but it is still possible for visitors to admire this unusual tower from the outside. The grounds of the tower are open daily between 1 April to 30 September. It is closed from 1 October to 31 March. It is free to visit.' No daily hours or reopening date for the tower are given (21 October 2026).

From April to September visitors can walk round the outside of the six-storey L-plan tower. The interior, once open, is closed with no date. An information board stands at the tower; no toilets or other facilities at the site.

Photo: Scotstarvit Tower, a tall grey L-plan tower house with a slate roof and parapet walk, rising above trees and a cottage beyond a stubble field. Gordon Hatton, CC BY-SA 2.0. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scotstarvit_Tower_-_geograph.org.uk_-_6304740.jpg. Licence: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0. Resized and cropped for display; derivatives retain the source licence.