Fire crews battle castle blaze

Fire crews battled through the night to control a blaze at Blair Castle near Blair Atholl in Perthshire. The fire started in the middle of the evening on Thursday 10 March and quickly spread through the 13th century clock tower at the castle.

At one point, seven fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze and stop it spreading to the rest of the building.

Tayside Police said there was a significant amount of damage to the clock tower including the collapse of the roof and that the second floor had also collapsed down onto the first floor. No one was injured and the cause of the fire is not yet known.

The castle is the seat of the Earl’s of Atholl and is an important tourist attraction in the area just to the north of Pitlochry in Highland Perthshire. It is not yet known if, and for how long, public visits to the castle and grounds will be affected.