Crathes Castle

Crathes Castle (pronounced KRATH-iss) is a castle built in the 16th century, near Banchory in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is in the historic county of Kincardineshire. This harled castle was built by the Burnetts of Leys and was owned by the family for almost 400 years. The castle and its grounds are currently owned and managed by the National Trust for Scotland and are open to the public.

Crathes sits on land given as a gift to the Burnetts of Ley family by King Robert the Bruce in 1323.

In the 14th and 15th centuries, the Burnett of Leys built a fortress of timbers on an island they made in the middle of a nearby bog. This method of fortification, known as a crannog, was common in the Late Middle Ages. Construction of the current tower house of Crathes Castle was begun in 1553 but delayed several times during its construction due to political problems during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots.

It was completed in 1596 by Alexander Burnett of Leys, and an additional wing added in the 18th century. Alexander Burnett, who completed the construction of Crathes, began a new project, the early 17th-century reconstruction of nearby Muchalls Castle. That endeavour was completed by his son, Sir Thomas Burnett.

In 1877, Sir Robert Burnett transformed the Great Hall by adding oak panelling and gilded leather in a faux-medieval style, to satisfy his New York wife Matilda and her guests that they were living in a truly old structure. Robert also purchased a whole new suite of furnishings for the entire structure of both antique and faux antique style as he thought befitted the house. Several painted beam ceilings, long covered by Georgian plasterwork, were re-exposed in 1913 during construction works (they had been spotted during the 1877 works and recovered).

Crathes Castle served as the ancestral seat of the Burnetts of Leys until Sir James Burnett, 13th Baronet gave it to the National Trust for Scotland in 1951. The family continued to live in the house.

The Great Hall was stripped back to its bare stone walls in 1953.

Another historically important structure in this region linked to the Burnett of Leys family is Monboddo House.

A fire damaged portions of the castle (in particular the Queen Anne wing) on 6 January 1966.

After the fire the laird, James Cecil Burnett was limited to the use of "a stump of the service wing" as his actual residence.

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

Crathes Castle ranks #1,359 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #46 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1553, it is older than 38% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 718 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 3,253 times in the last 60 days, more than 77% of the atlas. 6 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Aberdeen, 23 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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