Huntly Castle

Huntly Castle is a ruined castle north of Huntly in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where the rivers Deveron and Bogie meet. It was the ancestral home of the chief of Clan Gordon, Earl of Huntly. There have been four castles built on the site that have been referred to as Huntly Castle, Strathbogie Castle or Peel of Strathbogie.

Huntly Castle was built on the crossing of the rivers Deveron and Bogie, north of Huntly and roughly 40 miles from Aberdeen. The original wooden castle was built on a motte. The second castle, made of stone, was built on the northern end of the bailey. The third and modern castles were built to the east of the original, at the southern end of the estate.

The castle was originally built by Duncan II, Earl of Fife, on the Strathbogie estate sometime around 1180 and 1190. The castle became known as the Peel of Strathbogie.

The Earl Duncan's third son, David, inherited the Strathbogie estate and later, through marriage, became earls of Atholl around 1204. During the Strathbogie family's time at the estate, Robert the Bruce was a guest after falling ill at Inverurie. The family was loyal to him and when he got better, Robert the Bruce went on to win the battle of Bannockburn. However, around 1314, David of Strathbogie shifted his support to the English right before Robert the Bruce won the battle of Bannockburn. Robert the Bruce saw this as treachery and granted the castle and estate to Sir Adam Gordon of Huntly because he was consistently loyal. In 1506, the castle was officially renamed Huntly Castle.

Although the castle was burned to the ground, a grander castle was built in its place. In 1496, the pretender to the English throne, Perkin Warbeck, was married to Lady Catherine Gordon the daughter of George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly, witnessed by King James IV of Scotland at Edinburgh. James IV came to Huntly in October 1501 and gave gifts of money to the stonemasons working on the castle. In October 1503, James IV came again and played in a shooting contest at a target called a "prop". He came back again in the following October, on his way south, accompanied by four Italian minstrels and an African drummer known as the "More taubronar". James IV played cards at the castle on 10 October 1505 and gave a tip to masons working on the building. These visits were part of his annual pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint Duthac at Tain.

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

Huntly Castle ranks #1,599 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #54 of the 167 mapped in Scotland. Founded c. 1450, it is older than 48% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 434 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 2,586 times in the last 60 days, more than 72% of the atlas. 5 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Aberdeen, 53 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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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗