Castle Map

Castle

Towie Barclay Castle

Scotland · 16th century

Founded
1593
Heritage status
category A listed building
Location
Aberdeenshire
Coordinates
57.485°, -2.428°
Links
Wikimedia Commons
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Towie Barclay Castle in Scotland
Photo: TravisNygard · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Description

Towie Barclay Castle is a historic castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, 4.5 miles south-south-east of Turriff. The current structure, which was built by Clan Barclay in 1593, is a Category A listed building.

The site was given to the Clan in the 11th century by Malcolm III of Scotland. It appears that an early structure was erected in the 12th century as an inscription, built into the wall, reads: "Sir Alexander Barclay of Tolly, foundator, deceisit anno domini 1186." Following Clan Barclay's pillage of a nunnery in the 12th century, Thomas the Rhymer proclaimed: "Towie Barclay of the Glen/Happy to the maids/But never to the men." The present structure was built in rubble masonry and completed in 1593.

On 13 May 1639, during the First Bishops' War, the castle was the scene of the first fatality of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms during the "Trot of Turriff" engagement.

In 1752, Charles Maitland Barclay sold Towie Barclay Castle to James Ogilvy, 5th Earl of Findlater whose family sold it to Robert Gordon's Hospital in Aberdeen in 1792. The turrets and embrasures were removed at that time and the height was reduced by two storeys.

The castle was bought in the late 1960s by the musician Marc Ellington and his wife, Karen. A programme of restoration was funded by Marc Ellington's music career while his wife project-managed the extensive restorative work on the building, which took many years to complete. While the lower story contains sixteenth century masonry, the upper floors are a modern reconstruction. The restoration project was of a sufficiently high standard to win a Saltire Society Award in 1973.

Following Ellington's death in 2021, in 2025 the castle was bought by a wealthy American couple, James Burba and Robert Hayes.

The layout of the castle is a slight modification of a traditional quadrangular keep. The main hall, which is vaulted in two compartments, is 30 feet (9.1 m) long and 20 feet (6.1 m) wide.

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

In the rankings

Towie Barclay Castle ranks #7,346 of 9,902 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #232 of the 252 mapped in Scotland. Founded 1593, it is older than 33% of the atlas's dated landmarks, one of 933 atlas entries founded in the 16th century. 7 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Aberdeen, 42 km away. It is one of the 32 landmarks on the atlas's regional map of Aberdeenshire. It is stop 19 of 25 on the Aberdeenshire castle trail, Stonehaven to Aberdeen. See how Scotland compares in the castle statistics.

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