For many years the parishes of Culross and Tulliallan formed an exclave some miles away from the rest of Perthshire, on the boundaries of Clackmannanshire and Fife.

[1][2] Culross and Tulliallan were transferred to Fife based on the recommendations of the boundary commission appointed under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889.

Presumably this would have included strengthening the D-shaped moat and the outer rampart, making the position strong against attack across the marshy land, which would not be drained until the 18th century.

[6] The Douglas castle was initially an L-shaped two-storey building of ashlar masonry, with a tower at the southwest corner holding the main entrance, which was reached by a drawbridge.

An 1853 account of the then-ruined building said "two narrow posterns open from each end of the southern front, of which that on the east opens into an apartment which has been termed the great hall, where three compartments are curiously formed by elegant groined arches, which rest upon a central octagonal column, the whole being in a state of remarkable preservation.

In 1456 the gift was confirmed to Sir James Edmiston, great-grandson of King Robert II of Scotland, by royal charter.

The bishop sided with rebel nobles who defeated and killed King James III of Scotland in 1488 at the Battle of Sauchieburn.

[12] One of the Lairds of Tulliallan, Sir John Blackadder, was beheaded in March 1531 for the murder of James Inglis, Abbot of Culross, in a dispute over land.

[13] He was succeeded at Tulliallan by his brother Patrick, who renewed a dispute against the Homes for the Blackadder family lands around Allanton in Berwickshire.

[15] The last Blackadder to own Tulliallan was Sir John, born in 1596 and on 18 July 1626 created a knight baronet of Nova Scotia by King Charles I of England.

His estate, with lime works, salt pans and other enterprises, yielded an income of 36,000 merks annually, but this was not enough to satisfy Sir John's expensive habits and he ran up debts far beyond his ability to pay.

George Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith bought the estate in 1799, and built today's castle as his family residence.