Kinnoull Tower Perth Perthshire Scotland

Tour Scotland 4K Spring Sunday travel video of Kinnoull Tower on visit to Perth, Perthshire. This Scottish tower was built in 1829 by Lord Grey of Kinfauns as a romantic folly, the tower, along with nearby Binn Tower, originally used as an observatory by Grey, are meant to resemble the castles on the Rhine in Germany as Grey saw a great similarity between the River Tay and parts of the Rhine. The tower is easily accessible via a footpath. Sir Francis Gray, 14th Lord Gray, born 1765, died 1842, was a Scottish peer, politician and soldier. He was born in Edinburgh on 1 September 1765 the youngest of twelve children to John Gray, 11th Lord Gray and his wife Margaret Blair of Kinfauns, born 1720, died 1790). The family had a house at Adams Square in Edinburgh and a family seat in the north of Scotland at Fowlis Castle. He served in the Breadalbane Fencibles, a local militia, gaining the rank of Major by 1793. In 1794 he married Mary Ann Johnston, daughter of Lieutenant Colonel James Johnston. They had three daughters and one son. The son, John Gray, 15th Lord Gray succeeded to the baronetcy. In 1807, following the death of his older brother, William John Gray, 13th Lord Gray he succeeded to the peerage. From 1807 to 1810 he served as Deputy Postmaster General in Scotland. He sat in the House of Lords in London, England, from 1812 to 1841. In 1812 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Ninian Imrie, John Playfair and Sir John Leslie. He served as the Society's Vice President from 1815 to 1823. In 1816 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. From 1819 to 1823 he served as President of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland. In 1822 he commissioned Robert Smirke to build Kinfauns Castle. In 1825 he further commissioned William Trotter to execute suites of furniture for the castle. The building was ready for occupation in 1826. He died on 20 August 1842 and is buried in the family vault at Fowlis.

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