Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle is a harled castle or fortified country house 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the seat of Clan Sempill, and the Forbes family resided here for 350 years until 1963, when the property was sold to the National Trust for Scotland by the 19th Lord Sempill.

An example of the original Scottish Baronial architecture, the seven-storey castle was completed in 1626 by the Aberdonian merchant William Forbes, ancestor of the Forbes baronets of Craigievar and brother of the Bishop of Aberdeen, Patrick Forbes of Corse Castle. Forbes purchased the partially completed structure from the impoverished Mortimer family in the year 1610. He arranged for the continued construction, completing it in 1625 or 1626.

Forbes was nicknamed "Danzig Willy", a reference to his shrewd international trading success with the Baltic states. Some used the nickname "Willy the Merchant", also based on the substantial profits he made while "merchandising at Dantzick", according to one source.

William's son became a baronet of Nova Scotia by Charles I; this title is now extant. The Forbes Baronetcy, of Craigievar in the County of Aberdeen, was created in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia on 20 April 1630 for William Forbes. He was also a descendant of Hon. Patrick Forbes, third son of the second Lord Forbes, and the nephew of the first baronet of the 1628 creation. The fourth baronet represented Aberdeenshire in the House of Commons. The 5th Baronet married the Hon. Sarah Sempill, eldest daughter of Hugh Sempill, 12th Lord Sempill. Their grandson, the eighth Baronet, succeeded as seventeenth Lord Sempill in 1884 (see the Lord Sempill for earlier history of this title). The titles remained united until the death of his grandson, the 19th Lord and tenth Baronet, in 1965.

Designed in the L-plan, as was Muchalls Castle, which is located in the same region, Craigievar is noted for its crafted plasterwork ceilings. Craigevar, Muchalls Castle and Glamis Castle are generally considered to have the three finest ceilings in Scotland. The Clan Forbes family was close friends of the Clan Burnett of Leys, who built both Crathes Castle and Muchalls Castle. The ceilings feature plaster figures of the Nine Worthies and other family emblems.

By the early 1800s, the tower had fallen into decay.

Text adapted from “Craigievar Castle” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Craigievar Castle ranks #1,124 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #34 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1626, it is older than 30% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 580 atlas entries founded in the 17th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,675 times in the last 60 days, more than 79% of the atlas. 8 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Aberdeen, 37 km away. It is one of the 22 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Aberdeenshire. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

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