The house is on the southern slope of Fife, about from the coast. It commands a view of the Firth of Forth and Lothian on the opposite shore. On a clear day the towers of Edinburgh may be seen, away.
History
The name Balcarres comes from the Gaelicbaile carrach meaning rough or stony settlement. The land on which Balcarres House stands was acquired by John Lindsay, second son of the 9th Earl of Crawford, in 1587. He also acquired other lands in Fife, which were erected into a barony in 1592. He built the original mansion in 1595, three years before his death. This original building was plain in design. It comprised a Z-plantower house, which itself incorporated an earlier turret. This earlier tower had been built by Sir John Stirling of Keir around 1511. In 1633 King Charles I bestowed the title of "Lord Lindsay of Balcarres" on David Lindsay, second son of John Lindsay. David built a small Gothic chapel, and was buried there when he died in 1641. The chapel still stands near the road, but has lost its roof. David's son Alexander was created Earl of Balcarres in 1651. He and his wife, Anna supported the Royalists through the Civil War, dying in exile in Breda in 1659, while Balcarres was sequestered by the Parliamentarians. The Crawfords continued to back the Stuarts, and in 1689 Colin, 3rd Earl of Balcarres, was imprisoned and later exiled as a supporter of the deposed James VII. He was permitted to return to Scotland in 1700, but took part in the failed Jacobite Rising of 1715, and was subsequently placed under house-arrest at Balcarres. He later founded the estate village of Colinsburgh to the southof the house, before his death in 1722. In 1789 the sixth Earl Alexander, sold Balcarres to his brother, Robert Lindsay, who had acquired a fortune in India. Robert's son Colonel James Lindsay inherited the house in 1836. He commissioned a substantial extension to Balcarres from the architect William Burn, preserving most of the old house within it. His son, Sir Coutts Lindsay, built another extension to the north east, and the terraced gardens, to designs by David Bryce in the 1860s. In April 1886 Sir Coutts sold the estate to his nephew, James Ludovic Lindsay, the ninth Earl of Balcarres and twenty-sixth Earl of Crawford. It remains in the Earl's family.
Estate
To the east of the house there is a crag on which stands a folly. John Blackadder preached at a conventicle on this crag during the 17th-century persecution of the Covenanters. The folly was built around 1820, and comprises a Gothic tower surrounded by mock ruins. The 17th-century chapel is protected as a scheduled monument. The 17th-century sundial, brought here from Leuchars Castle is also listed at category A. A late 17th or early 18th centurydower house also stands in the grounds. The estate is represented by , a joint venture of six local landed families who continue to live on and run their estates, some of which date back to the Medieval era and are still largely agricultural. The other estates are Balcaskie, Elie House, Gilston Estate, Kilconquhar Estate and Strathtyrum.
