Pitsligo Castle, Aberdeenshire
Photo © Ulrich Hartmann, 10 August 2007
Pitsligo Castle, Aberdeenshire
Photo © Ulrich Hartmann,
10 August 2007
Pitsligo Castle is a ruined castle half a mile east of Rosehearty, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
It originated as a 15th century keep on the south side. There is an arched
gateway in the west wall of the outer court, with the date 1656 and the arms
of the Forbes and Erskines. In the inner court the date is shown as 1663. At
the north-east angle of the courtyard there is a tall flanking drum-tower. The
main tower had three vaulted stories, but almost all above the lowest has disappeared.
There is a stair tower at the north-east corner which is better preserved. There
are panels dated 1577 over the courtyard doorway.
PITSLIGO CASTLE, Aberdeenshire.
A few miles west from Fraserburgh, and about one mile distant from Pitsligo Church, and between it and the sea stands the ruined castle of Pitsligo.
The building is of the Courtyard Plan, having been extended into that form from the simple keep, which is the most ancient portion, and stands near the south-west corner. An arched entrance gateway passes through the enclosing wall on the west side of the courtyard, a little to the north of the keep. Various buildings exist along the north side of the quadrangle, some of which are partly occupied as labourers' cottages. At the north-east angle there is a round tower of defence projecting outwards.
The keep, the top of which is seen to the right of the gateway, has two vaulted floors, but is in a very ruinous state. The following extract, is interesting in connection with the mode of living in these keeps : —
"To show the simplicity and rudeness of these times, the old tower of Pitsligo was built about three hundred years ago, eighty foot long, and thirty-six foot broad, the walls nine foot thick. It was one hundred and fourteen foot high, divided into three stories, of which two are yet standing. The whole house consisted of three rooms— the lowermost was the kitchen, and is twelve foot high; the second was the eating-room, and twenty -five foot high; the third, which was taken down about twenty years ago, was the sleeping apartment for the whole family, and had m it twenty - four beds. Both of the lower rooms were vaulted."
The gateway and wall are distant about one hundred paces westward from the castle, and are opposite the gate in the western wall above referred to. This outer wall runs by the side of the Old Kirk road, and it probably enclosed a "pleasaunce," which extended between it and the castle. There is still, surrounded with ancient walls, a very large old garden attached to the castle; and, notwithstanding its situation — which is exposed to the full fury of the east winds, fi'esh from the German Ocean, to the severity of which its stricken and stunted trees testify — the garden is an extremely pleasant one. In a panel over the gateway occur the initials of Alexandei, Lord Pitsligo, and beneath them letters like mac, and the date 1656. These letters may be the beginning of the inscription —
HIC
CORPUS
SYDERA
MENTEM
which, according to the New History of Aberdeenshire, was carved on this gateway, but is now no longer discernible.
Over the gateway that opens into the inner courtyard, a panel contains four coats, quarterly — Forbes and Fraser, impaled with the three garbs of the Cumings. Above are the initials of Alexander, second Lord Pitsligo, and his wife, Lady Mary Erskine, and beneath the date 1663, being the year in which he was served heir to his father, the first Lord Pitsligo.
On the south wall of the staircase tower, which is situated at the north-east angle of the courtyard, there is the panel containing the royal arms — the lion rampant, with the double tressure, and above this the Scottish crown, with the initials LR., for James vi., and the date 1577. At this time James was a boy of eleven years of age, and it is not to be supposed that this shield indicates any connection between royalty and the castle. It must rather have been put up in the same spirit of loyalty as prompted Douglas to exclaim to Marmion —
"My castles are my king's alone, From turret to foundation stone."
On the east wall of the same tower is another shield, with the date 1603. This shield is quartered with the arms of England and Ireland, and bears the date of James's succession to the throne of England, to commemorate which event it may have been inserted.
In Pratt's Guide to Buchan it is stated that, "according to the Vieio of the Diocese of Aberdeen, the keep was built in the early part of the fifteenth century, by the founder of the family, Sir William Forbes, son of Sir John of Drumennor, who, under James I., came into the possession of Pitsligo, Boyndlie, &c., by his marriage with the only daughter of Sir William Eraser of Philorth."
The other parts of the castle, as the above panels show, are of a later period.
THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND THOMAS ROSS, 1889