Abergeldie Castle is a four-floor
tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
in
Crathie
Crathie ( gd, Craichidh) is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It stands on the north bank of the River Dee.
Abergeldie Castle is away. It was built around 1550 and had 19th century additions. It was garrisoned by General Hugh Mackay in ...
and Braemar parish, SW
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland.
It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...
, Scotland. It stands at an altitude of , on the south bank of the
River Dee, west of
Ballater, and about east of the royal residence of
Balmoral Castle
Balmoral Castle () is a large estate house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, and a residence of the British royal family. It is near the village of Crathie, west of Ballater and west of Aberdeen.
The estate and its original castle were bought ...
. Behind it rises Creag nam Ban, a rounded granite hill about high, and across the river to its front is the cairn-crowned
Geallaig Hill, rising to .
It is protected as a category A
listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
The castle was the home of
Baron Abergeldie.
History
The name derives from the
Pictish
Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...
language, and means the "Confluence of Geldie," a reference to its location near the confluence of
River Geldie and
River Dee.
(Note: attempts have been made to derive the name from Scottish Gaelic, such as "inbhir-gile"
shining confluence" but while aber and inbhir both mean "confluence" the former is derived from Pictish, a P-Celtic
rythoniclanguage which once dominated in Britain, while the latter is derived from Gaelic, a Q-Celtic
oideliclanguage, originating in Ireland. Since Abergeldie is in the heartland of the ancient Pictish realm, and is surrounded by other place names incorporating "aber"
ncluding nearby Aberdeen it is safe to assume that Pictish is the correct origin of the name.)
A late Bronze Age standing stone, about 6.5 feet high, 2.5 feet wide, and 1.25 feet thick on the lawn of the castle is one indicator of the great antiquity of this site, and its long occupation by man. It also has one of the longest unbroken records of ownership, being in the hands of the
Gordon family for 600 years.
It was most likely built around 1550
[ by Sir Alexander Gordon of ]Midmar
Midmar is a historic settlement in Aberdeenshire, lying north of Banchory and southwest of Inverurie. It is noted for its three stone circles and various standing stones. Midmar and Sunhoney are both recumbent stone circles.
History
The na ...
, son of the first Earl of Huntly, on grounds acquired by the Gordon family in 1482. The interior has been returned to its original state, restored by a descendant of the builder.
During the course of the first Jacobite rising in 1689–90, the castle was besieged by Jacobite forces. However, following the defeat of General Buchan's Jacobite forces by Sir Thomas Livingstone at Cromdale
Cromdale ( gd, Cromdhail, from ''crom'' 'crooked' and ''dal'' 'valley, dale') is a village in Strathspey, in the Highland council area of Scotland, and one of the ancient parishes which formed the combined ecclesiastical (later civil) parish o ...
on 1 May 1690, General Hugh Mackay of Scourie marched with some cavalry and 1,400 Williamite Dutch infantry (probably including his own former regiment) to lift the siege.
It figured again in the 1715 Jacobite Rising, being garrisoned by government troops (having then only recently been renovated by Rachel Gordon, 10th Heiress, and her husband, Captain Charles Gordon, who had also built nearby Birkhall
Birkhall (from the Scots ''Birk Hauch'': "Birch River-meadow") is a estate on Royal Deeside, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, owned by King Charles III. It is located alongside the River Muick to the south-west of Ballater.
History
The property wa ...
, later sold to the current royal family), and again in the short 1719 Rising, when it was briefly garrisoned by Spanish troops.
In 1848, Prince Albert, Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...
's Consort, purchased the lease of the Abergeldie Estate for 40 years, as it was relatively close to the new royal residence of Balmoral. Birkhall, with an estate of 6,500 acres, was bought from the Gordons by Albert, the Prince Consort, about the same time (though there has long been a local rumour that the Laird lost Birkhall in a card game).
After his marriage in 1863, Albert Edward, Prince of Wales
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...
, whose family nickname was 'Bertie', stayed every year at Abergeldie, indulging his twin passions of shooting by day and card games by night. According to an entry in W. E. Gladstone's 1871 diary, Albert Edward one night asked Gladstone to drive over from Balmoral to dine. Gladstone was charmed by his manner, but not his gaming morals.
The ''Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland'' mentions that the Duchess of Kent spent several autumns here between 1850 and 1861, and that the Empress Eugénie
An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother (empr ...
passed the October there following the loss of her son The Prince Imperial (1879), and that it was used as a summer residence and shooting box for the then Prince of Wales (who later became Edward VII
Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910.
The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...
).
After the accession of King Edward VII in 1901, it was used by his son the Prince of Wales (later King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Que ...
) in 1902. Other members of the Royal Family who stayed at Abergeldie included the daughters of Edward VII, Princesses Louise, Victoria and Maud of Wales.
Birkhall remains in the Royal Family's possession; King Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
spent time here when he was Duke of Rothesay
Duke of Rothesay ( ; gd, Diùc Baile Bhòid; sco, Duik o Rothesay) is a dynastic title of the heir apparent to the British throne, currently William, Prince of Wales. William's wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, is the current Duchess of R ...
, together with Camilla, Queen Consort of the United Kingdom
Camilla (born Camilla Rosemary Shand, later Parker Bowles, 17 July 1947) is Queen Consort of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms as the wife of King Charles III. She became queen consort on 8 September 2022, upon the acc ...
.
Abergeldie Castle was last occupied by the 21st Laird
Laird () is the owner of a large, long-established Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a baron and above a gentleman. This rank was held only by those lairds holding official recognition in ...
, John Seton Howard Gordon, who had lived there since 1972 (the lands having been previously on lease to the Royal Family's Balmoral Estate, who had their lease on the game lands renewed in the year 2000).
In January 2016, the castle was threatened by rising flood waters from the River Dee, which washed away much of the land behind the building, leaving it on a precipice over the river, thus forcing the 76-year-old Laird to flee. For a time, authorities were uncertain if the castle could be saved if the flooding continued. A few days later, structural engineers were confident that shoring efforts would prevent imminent collapse.
Structure
The castle is an imposing building, its oldest part being a turreted square block tower of the "tower house" type, with rectangular-plan tower measuring around , with a round stair tower across at the south-west corner. The walls are 4 feet thick, as was common for the unsettled nature of the times. Tradition suggests that the castle was originally surrounded by a moat, but no trace exists today. In the 18th century, a wing was added to the 16th-century structure. In the early 19th century, an ogee
An ogee ( ) is the name given to objects, elements, and curves—often seen in architecture and building trades—that have been variously described as serpentine-, extended S-, or sigmoid-shaped. Ogees consist of a "double curve", the combinatio ...
-roofed belfry was built at the top of the stair tower, and a Venetian window
A Venetian window (also known as a Serlian window) is a large tripartite window which is a key element in Palladian architecture. Although Sebastiano Serlio (1475–1554) did not invent it, the window features largely in the work of the Italian a ...
inserted in the south façade.[ ]W. D. Simpson
William Douglas Simpson CBE (2 August 1896 – 9 October 1968) was a Scottish academic and writer who focused on the study of medieval architecture and archaeology.
Career
Simpson was appointed Assistant in History at the University of A ...
noted similarities between Abergeldie and the Castle of Balfluig at Alford, suggesting that they may have shared a designer.[
The estate grounds extend along Deeside, and consist of planted with Scotch pine, larch, and birch, mixed in the private grounds with spruce, ash, plane, and sycamore.
]
Ghost
The castle is said to be haunted by the spirit of a French serving woman named Catherine (or Kittie) Rankie (or Frankie), also known as French Kate. She was accused of being a witch, and was imprisoned in the cellars before being burned at the stake on nearby Craig-na-Ban (Gaelic Creag-na-Ban – Rock of the Women), which overlooks the castle. Since that time, Kate's ghost has been said to have been seen in the cellars and in the clock tower.
References
{{Authority control
Castles in Aberdeenshire
Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire
Houses completed in 1550
16th century in Scotland
Reportedly haunted locations in Scotland
Royal residences in Scotland
1550 establishments in Scotland
House of Gordon