After the execution of Queen Mary a great outcry broke out over the country. In the highly charged state of public feeling a scapegoat had to be found. The Master of Gray was exposed, arrested and brought to trial in the Castle of Edinburgh in May 1587. He was indicted of treason under six charges in which no mention was made of his dealing with Queen Elizabeth. He was condemned to death but through the advocacy of his relative the Earl of Huntly sentence was never carried out. He was banished from the country and divested of all offices held by him.

His term of banishment was short, for in 1589 he obtained permission from the King to return home for a time, but while he appeared at Court he did not regain any position or influence and he again withdrew to the Continent. While abroad in this latter period he carried on a correspondence with the King — preserved for us in the Moray Papers — with a view to reinstatement in the Royal favour. In the course of this correspondence he made pecuniary claims against the King. These claims were finally adjusted by Commissioners appointed for the purpose, who in 1606 found that £19,983 Scots was due by His Majesty and an order for payment was made accordingly. Royal favour continued to rest on him, for on his next return to Scotland, he was connected in several more despicable actions, but in all cases he managed to obtain a pardon from the King.

An incident very typical of his activities took place in 1599 when Lord Balmerino President of the Court of Session wrote to the Pope on behalf of his cousin, Sir Edward Drummond, requesting the elevation to the Cardinalate their kinsman, the Bishop of Vaison and containing complimentary references to his Holiness. This letter Balmerino managed to shuffle among other papers for the King’s signature, and the King ignorant of its contents innocently signed it. The Master of Gray, who was at that time in Rome, managed to get a copy of the letter and sent it to Queen Elizabeth, who at once reproached King James with conduct unworthy of a Protestant Prince. The King denied all knowledge of the letter and declared it to be a forgery by his enemies.

We come to one of the Master’s final and meanest acts which suggest he did not restrict his avarice to his public life. In the year 1607, one year before his death. Lord Gray, then a very old man made complaint to the King of his son’s behaviour. His Majesty wrote to the Council in Scotland — "Patrick Lord Gray is havelie complenit to him against his sone the Maister of Gray for not only having brought his wife and familie into the said Lord’s hoose, consumed thairby all that mean portion that he had reservit for his awne use and intromissed with his maillis, fermes and duties, but also preising verie unnaturallie to accelerat his faderis grey hams to the grave with sorrow, by removal of all the auld servandis in no way gevis the auld man ony contentment". By His Majesty’s instructions the Lords of Council directed a commission to the Commendator of Holyrude House to repair to Lord Gray’s house and make enquiry. The Commendatore gave the Master fifteen days to clear out and restore all rents, for the intromission with which he had no warrant, under pain of the charge of Rebellion.

In 1575 he had married Elizabeth Lyon daughter of Lord Glamis but with no heir divorced her on 21st. May 1585. A second marriage took place to Mary Stewart daughter of the Earl of Orkney on 25th. November 1585. By this second wife he had, Andrew his heir and six daughters all of whom continued the family tradition of marrying well.

Periodically, previous to Andrew the seventh Lord of Gray’s succession, various portions of the estates had been disposed of, to raise funds in order to provide dowries for the many daughters and to clear heavy debts on the estate. Possibly for this reason and no doubt to escape the distress of his father’s notoriety, he chose a military career and became heavily engaged in the French wars. This was to be the last chapter the Lords Gray would feature in the Castle Huntly tale, but there is an interesting postscript. In addition to the disposal of Castle Huntly for 40,000 marks to the first Earl of Kinghorn, Andrew sold the Heritable Sheriffship of Forfarshire to Charles I for 50,000 marks which were never paid.

As the Lyons of Glamis already held lands in Longforgan and the Mains at the Castle partly through the dower of Elizabeth, daughter of the second Lord Gray who married John, 6th Lord Glamis in 1487, and partly through mortgages to Patrick 9th Lord Glamis and first Earl of Kinghorne, born 1575, the latter purchased the Castle and whole estates for 40,000 Merks in 1614.

Patrick only lived one year after that date, but had commenced to repair the castle which had fallen into a bad condition during the occupancy of the last few Grays. As his grandson stated in his Book of Record:- "It was a place of no consideration, fitt for nothing else but as a place of refuge in time of trouble, wherein a man might make himselfe a prisoner; and in the meantime might therein be protected from a flying partie, but was never of any strength, or to have been accounted a stronghold to endure a siege, or a place capable to hold so many as with necessarie provisions could hold out long, or by salleys to doe much prejudice to an enemie, and such houses truly are worn quyt out of fashione, as feuds are, which is a great happiness, the cuntrie being generally more civilized than it was of ancient times, and my owne opinion, when troublesome times are, it is more safe for a man to keep the feilds than to inclose himselfe in the walls of a house, so that there is no man more against these old fashion of tours and castles than I am and I wish everie man who has such houses would reform them for who can delight to live in his house as in a prisone".

Patrick married Lady Anna Murray daughter of the Earl of Tulliebardine, died in 1615 and was succeeded by his son John, born 1596.

John the second Earl of Kinghorne did not distinguish himself, being considered as a weak sort of fellow who fell under the influence of his first wife, Lady Margaret Erskine, and that of his younger brother James Lyon of Aldbar who embroiled him in many adventures which greatly reduced his resources. Of John it is said that, "he came to his inheritance the wealthiest peer in Scotland and left the poorest". He was over obliging to his relations and friends, taking on heavy obligations in bonds and cautions which plunged his affairs deeply into debt. In addition, he developed a great friendship with James Graham, Marquis of Montrose. Montrose was at first a fierce Covenanter but later became more of a Royalist. There came a point when John’s conscience forced him to part company with Montrose who changed sides and took up arms against the Covenanters. John, who felt deserted considered that he had a moral obligation to the Covenanters cause, and contributed towards financing the army against his old friend Montrose, in the process committing himself to crippling debt.

He did, however, continue the work of restoration of Castle Huntly. His son crediting him with "an inteer new roofe upon the castle, which beforehand had ane scurvie battlement".

His first wife Margaret Erskine was the daughter of the Earl of Mar and his second Elizabeth daughter of the Earl of Panmure. He died of the plague at St Andrews on 12th. May 1646 where he had gone to nurse his ward, the Earl of Errol and was succeeded by his only son Patrick, born 29th. May 1642 and by then only four years of age.

Patrick the third Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne grew up to be one of the most remarkable members of the Lyon family. He was a man of extremely fine character with strong determination to do the right by his family and estates and was gifted with an exceptional administrative ability.

The long period of dissentions and unrest that affected Scotland for thirty years preceding the Restoration told severely on the estates. Both his grandfather and his father had been compelled to raise large sums of money for the exigencies of war by borrowing upon the security of their properties. Most lands were pledged in some form to creditors throughout the land. The Castle of Glamis was denuded of furniture and allowed to get into a state of disrepair and Castle Huntly was almost uninhabitable. Thus when Earl Patrick came into his inheritance, it was to shoulder a heavy burden with debts about £40,000, an enormous sum in these days.

The young Earl’s guardian was unwilling to undertake the rescue of a property so deeply involved. He was advised that his estates were irrecoverable, but his uncle, the Earl of Panmure did much to preserve a remnant sufficient to start him in life, though quite inadequate to his rank in Society. It is testament to his tenacity that after 40 years of hard work he once again restored his estates to solvency.

Castle Huntly had been made the jointure house of the family and he stayed there with his mother. In 1650 when the boy was only eight years of age his mother was married for the second time to the Earl of Linlithgow who treated his stepson with harsh cruelty. After his wife’s death this Earl compelled the repayment of all monies expended by her on the young heir out of her jointure income.

Having completed his studies at St Andrews the young Earl returned to his castle at Huntly in 1660, in his eighteenth year, and even at that age had formed his resolution to restore as far as possible the honour and estates of his family. The lamentable condition in which he found the castle he graphically describes in the Book of Record: "I had a verie hard beginning, there was not even a bed in the castle and I had to borrow one from the minister at Longforgan, while I was awaiting the arrival of my humble student’s furniture from St Andrews." His stepfather had stripped the house of all furniture. The barns byres and stables were empty and as he puts it — "Att that time I was not worth a four-footed beast safe the little dog that I keepit att and brought with me from St Andrews." He described the pend and entry as a quagmire as was the most part of the enclosed ground besouth it. Inside, conditions were not much better with only bare walls.

His sister Lady Elizabeth Lyon and he began their first attempt at housekeeping on a most parsimonious scale. Having scrambled together some old pots and pans and collected some old furniture, they began with their own hands to decorate their lonely dwelling and make it habitable for the time. In the Glamis Book of Record, Patrick writes of his sister some twenty-five years afterwards — "Her company was of great comfort to me so young as we both were. We consulted together and in two years got together as much coarse furniture as in a verie mean and sober way filled all the rooms of my house some way or other."

His sister remained with him until his marriage in 1662 to Helen daughter of John, Lord Middleton Royal Commissioner for Scotland. The marriage took place at Holyrude Abbey Archbishop Sharpe officiating. In his writing 25 years later, it was considered by him to be — verie successful.

He brought his wife home to Castle Huntly in 1663 and set about altering and improving the buildings and policies and the status of the family. Thus in 1672 he obtained a Charter from Charles II erecting the lands of Castle Huntly into a free Barony to be called the "The Lordship of Lyon", and it was then that he changed the name to Castle Lyon. Similarly in 1677 another Charter provided that in future the Earls of Kinghorne should be styled "Earls of Strathmore and Kinghorne, Viscounts Lyon and Barons Glamis, Tannadyce, Sidlaw and Strathdichtie".

He was a nobleman who shone as a patron of the arts and devoted his life to improving and beautifying his domains. He was a Privy Councillor and Lord of the Treasury and in 1686 an Extraordinary Senator of the College of Justice. The entries in his Book of Record show that he was a master of finance. At the time of his death in 1695 in his 53rd year he had cleared most of the debt on his estates and had made considerable alterations and additions to his castle at Glamis as well as at Castle Lyon.

His two daughters both married members of the local nobility and his eldest son John, born 1663, succeeded as fourth Earl of Strathmore.

The fourth Earl, though a man of considerable talent and a Privy Councillor in the reign of Queen Anne took relatively little part in public affairs. By his marriage with Lady Elizabeth Stanhope daughter of the Earl of Chesterfield he had six sons. Two of whom became Lord Glamis, both predeceasing their father, and four other brothers who succeeded to the Earldom in turn, the eighth Earl and youngest son being the only one who had an heir.

John the third son and fifth Earl was to display the family’s royalist sympathies when he joined the Jacobite cause, and on the breaking out of the Mar rebellion, although only eighteen years of age, raised a regiment in Angus and took an active part in the campaign. He was slain at the battle of Sheriffmuir in 1715.

Charles, the fourth son and sixth Earl was not directly implicated in the rebellion and although both his family seats were visited by the Old Pretender, James VIII and III he was not disturbed in his rights. In 1725 he married Lady Susan Cochrane daughter of John Earl of Dundonald who was considered to be the most beautiful woman of her day in Scotland. Earl Charles was killed in an unfortunate brawl at Forfar by Carnegie of Finavon in May 1728 and left no heir.

James the next in succession died without issue in 1735.

Thomas was the last of the four brothers. Notwithstanding the Jacobite antecedents of his family he refrained from that cause in 1745. For a time he was MP for Angus. He died in 1753. His son John succeeded.

In general these later Earls lie outside our immediate theme for Castle Huntly being the jointure house was mostly occupied by the widows of various Earls. Thus Lady Susan the widow of Charles sixth Earl resided at Castle Huntly for seventeen years after her husband’s death in 1728. Later she made an unfortunate second marriage and left for the Continent where she died in 1754.

The ninth and tenth Earls must be mentioned, partly because of a marriage which was destined to have an historic outcome and partly because with the tenth Earl the family link with Castle Huntly ceased. John the ninth Earl of Strathmore was only sixteen when he succeeded. Thirteen years later, in 1767 he married Miss Mary Eleanor Bowes of Streatham, a great Durham heiress, who inherited a large fortune and great estates from her father, and with this John assumed the name of Bowes Lyon. He died on a health cruise to Lisbon in 1776 leaving three sons and two daughters.

The heir another John was seven years old at his father’s death. He can have known little or nothing of Castle Huntly for his mother Countess Bowes Lyon removed at once to London and the Castle and its estates were sold.

George Paterson, who was born in Dundee in 1734 and having studied medicine began his working life as a member of the medical faculty. Later he was to serve in India as official secretary to Sir Robert Harland where he displayed great diplomatic and administrative talent. The great contest between France and England for supremacy in Hindustan was then at its peak, and the victories of Clive over Dupleix were looked upon, even by British statesmen as merely accidental triumphs. After Clive’s daring exploits in Ascot, where from that spot the terror of his name was to spread across India, he placed Mahammed Ali on the throne as Nawab. Paterson, who displayed a considerable administrative capacity, was to support Sir Robert in the important negotiations and diplomacy necessary in settling and defending the Nawab of Arcot.

Paterson amassed a large fortune in the East India Company and returned to Scotland in 1776 and in the November of that year was to marry Anne, youngest daughter of John, 12th Baron Gray. It is said that when a friend of the family remarked to Lord Gray that he was surprised at the engagement of his daughter to a commoner, Lord Gray replied — "Weel, she has the bluid and he has the fillings, so between them they will mak a guid puddin."

Paterson purchased the Castle and estates of Castle Lyon at the price of £40,000 being as many pounds sterling as the 40,000 merks (about £2,200) which Earl Kinghorne paid in 1614. In honour of his wife who was a direct descendant of the long line of Grays who had owned the castle, he changed the name back to Castle Huntly.

When Paterson took over the castle it was in a very dilapidated condition and the alterations which the Lyons had made were quite out of date. He spent vast sums of money in repairs and additions, building the fine Georgian wings to the NE side. The Old Statistical Account records. "The wings, embattled walls, round tower and corner turrets were added to the original building by him and many improvements were effected in the interior making very fashionable apartments suitable for modern requirements."

Paterson was a man of great ability and many interests. He was a pioneer in agriculture, most notable for two developments. He is credited with introducing the steam melon pit to the gardens, and in 1788 is reputed with the inauguration of the first threshing mill in the area. He was greatly interested in education and gave a yearly allowance of £30 to increase the salary of the local schoolmaster to £50 per annum; made an allowance to pay the fees of poor scholars; presented Bibles, Testaments and prizes to poor scholars and in 1825 set up a new school. He was good to the tenants in the village and the workers on his estate. During the winter following the bad harvest of 1795 he and Lord Kinnaird obtained 400 quarters of mealing oats from England which were supplied free to the poor. His presence was felt in Dundee where in 1775 he presented three lustres to the Town House; in 1776 he was Master of St David’s Lodge of Freemasons at the laying of the foundation stone of Trades Hall and in 1777 Deacon of the Nine Trades and the Weavers.

By his marriage with the Hon. Anne Gray he had seven sons and three daughters. He died in 1817 having reached his 83rd. year.

All of the first laird’s sons with the exception of one who died in infancy chose careers of adventurous activity and attained distinction in the Army or the Navy as the following summary indicates:- George (Jan. 1778-1846) who succeeded to the estates was Colonel of the 3rd Foot Guards and was at Waterloo; John (Dec. 1778-1858) was a Captain in the Royal Navy; David (1781-1813) holding rank as Lt Colonel in the 53rd Rifles was Aide-de-camp to Lord Raglan during the Peninsular War and fell in action at Vittoria; William (1783-1838) was a Captain in the Royal Navy; James (1785-1856) was a Captain in the service of the East India Company and spent his life where his father had won distinction.

Colonel George Paterson born 1778, died 1846, was laird for twenty-nine years but spent most of his life in the Army. His son George, born 15th. June 1819 succeeded in 1846. This George Paterson after taking his degree as M.A. was admitted, in 1842 as an advocate at the Scottish Bar. He took a keen interest in the estate and became an authority on the subject of Firs. His writings upon questions connected with agriculture and the law aroused great interest and are still quoted as authoritative. George Paterson died on 25th. February 1867.

George Frederick son of the third laird succeeded in 1867. There is not much known about this fourth laird as it appears that he left the district and the Castle and policies were leased to Mr J Martin White whose family were the Whites of Balruddery. On his death in 1890, George Fredrick bequeathed the estates to his younger brother, Charles James George Paterson.

In 1886 the castle and policies were leased to Lady Annitstead who remained there until her death in 1913. While not an owner she did a lot to improve the castle and grounds and was responsible for the opening of the new avenue to the main road west of the village. She maintained a large staff at the castle and was a generous benefactress to the district. She bore the cost of the erection of the fine church of St Columba at Invergowrie.

Although Castle Huntly estate was one of the richest in the carse Charles lived principally in Palmerston Place in Edinburgh, and the castle being let, had a cottage in Longforgan in which he stayed when visiting the district. He died in Edinburgh on 24th. July 1937 at the age of 79, leaving practically the whole of his estate to charity, and by his will dated December 1936, he directed the trustees to sell the lands of Castle Huntly.

On the 18th March 1919 the whole estate including the village of Longforgan was put up for sale in the Royal Hotel in Dundee. Previous to the sale most of the farms and the cottages in the village were sold privately and a large portion of land was purchased by the Board of Agriculture as a centre for small-holdings for exservice men. The castle and policies were put up separately and were purchased for £6,400 by an estate agent from Edinburgh on behalf of Mr Charles Paterson the former owner who retained them until his death in 1937.

As he had never married he was succeeded by a distant cousin Colonel Adrian Gordon Paterson DSO, MC. This the last laird carried out many improvements at the castle in anticipation of taking up residence but died three years after succeeding in 1940 having never resided in the castle proper. His heir a young lad had been drowned in a tragic yachting accident in the Tay and the family moved to London.

A new chapter was to begin for Castle Huntly. With the outbreak of war it was sequestered for a war residence by a Girls’ Probation School. and for a few months was a convalescent home for War wounded. When the girls vacated the castle in 1946 it was sold to the State by the widow of Colonel Adrian where it was converted by the Scottish Home and Health Department as an open Borstal for Boys, the first fifteen to arrive on the on 21st. April 1947. Within two years Castle Huntly was to begin its first social experiment by taking boys described as bruisable. These were often young men who had experienced deprivation during childhood and were suffering the physical manifestations of such conditions. The healthy environment was seen as an opportunity for them to develop both physically and mentally. The rich parklands were ideal for all sorts of outdoor pursuits, as well as for the cultivation of soft fruits and vegetables. The stout castle, with its many rooms was found to be just as secure from the inside, as the Grays constructed it to provide security from the outside.

The castle with its irregular rooms and complexity of staircases was not ideally suited for its purpose, and by 1972, it was clear that the level of development, necessary to comply with fire regulations was uneconomic and impractical. The authorities took the decision, to relocate the living accommodation down to the flat lands in the south-west shadow of the castle. At that time an opportunity was taken to increase the living accommodation to 144. The castle was to retain the role of the administrative centre for the establishment.

Changing penal policy was to see the demise of Borstal Training and in 1984 Castle Huntly was once more at the forefront of experiment in becoming Scotland’s only open Young Offender Institution. This was to follow similar traditions to that of Borstal training but with more emphasis on vocational training. A new workshop was constructed for the training of engineering skills and trades such as car mechanics, welding and spray painting were taught.

The hand of change, never far from Castle Huntly, was once again to descend in 1995. With a diminishing demand for Young Offender spaces, Castle Huntly was to become an Open Prison for male adults (over 21) serving sentences of up to two years. This, in effect, meant that they would only be at Castle Huntly for a few months. There would be no fence or wall and prisoners would be expected to act as responsible citizens.