Gordon Castle is located near

Fochabers Fochabers (; gd, Fachabair or Fothabair) is a village in the Parish of Bellie, in Moray, Scotland, east of the cathedral city of Elgin and located on the east bank of the River Spey. 1,728 people live in the village, which enjoys a rich mus ...

Moray Moray () gd, Moireibh or ') is one of the 32 local government council areas of Scotland. It lies in the north-east of the country, with a coastline on the Moray Firth, and borders the council areas of Aberdeenshire and Highland. Between 1975 ...

, Scotland. Historically known as the Bog-of-Gight or Bog o'Gight, it was the principal seat of the

dukes of Gordon The title Duke of Gordon has been created once in the Peerage of Scotland and again in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The Dukedom, named after the Clan Gordon, was first created for the 4th Marquess of Huntly, who on 3 November 1684 was c ...

. Following 18th-century redevelopment, it became one of the largest

country house An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the city—hence, for these peopl ...

s ever built in Scotland, although much has since been demolished.

History

The original castle was built by

George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly George Gordon, 2nd Earl of Huntly (died 8 June 1501) was a Scottish nobleman and Chancellor of Scotland from 1498 to 1501. Life George was the son of Alexander (Seton) Gordon, 1st Earl of Huntly and his second wife Elizabeth Crichton, daughter ...

in the 1470s and enlarged by his grandson and

George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly (156213 June 1636) was a Scottish nobleman who took a leading role in the political and military life of Scotland in the late 16th century, and around the time of the Union of the Crowns. Biography The son o ...

. An inventory of the contents from November 1648 mentions lavish beds and a "hen house", a parrot cage in the long gallery. The first wave of substantial extension was undertaken by

Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon General Alexander Gordon, 2nd Duke of Gordon (c. 167828 November 1728), styled Earl of Enzie until 1684 and the Marquess of Huntly from 1684 to 1716, was a Scottish Jacobite peer. Gordon was the son of George Gordon, 1st Duke of Gordon and L ...

in the 1720s, greatly increasing the floorplan in relation to the original tower house. Architect John Adam was commissioned, alongside the exiled

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

(French) architect Abraham Roumieu, to redesign the castle in 1764, but this did not come to fruition. Eventually the commission fell to the lesser-known Edinburgh architect, John Baxter, who rebuilt it in 1769 for

Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon Alexander Gordon, 4th Duke of Gordon, KT (18 June 1743 – 17 June 1827), styled Marquess of Huntly until 1752, was a Scottish nobleman, described by Kaimes as the "greatest subject in Britain", and was also known as the Cock o' the North, the tr ...

. The central four-storey block incorporated a six-storey medieval tower called the Bog-of-Gight, and was flanked by a pair of two-storey wings. In 1827 the

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

architect

Archibald Simpson Archibald Simpson (4 May 1790 – 23 March 1847) was a Scottish architect, who along with his rival John Smith, is regarded as having fashioned the character of Aberdeen as "The Granite City".Simpson, William Douglas, (1947) ''The Archibald S ...

was commissioned to redesign the east wing after it was destroyed by fire. At its peak, the main facade was 568 feet (173 metres) long. Following the deaths of the 7th and 8th dukes within a decade of one another the Gordon Estates of 180,000 acres (73,000 hectares) were put up for sale by the 9th Duke to pay the enormous death duties. The majority of the contents of the castle were sold in 1938. By 1952 large areas of the castle were infested with

dry rot Dry rot is wood decay caused by one of several species of fungi that digest parts of the wood which give the wood strength and stiffness. It was previously used to describe any decay of cured wood in ships and buildings by a fungus which resul ...

.Scotland's Lost Buildings by Ian Gow Most of the castle was demolished, but the 16th-century tower of Bog-of-Gight and one of the wings—now a detached medium-sized country house in its own right—survive.

References

External links

A description of Gordon Castle published in the 1880sEngraving of Gordon Castle
by

James Fittler James Fittler (October 1758, in London – 2 December 1835) was an English engraver of portraits and landscapes and an illustrator of books. He was appointed by King George III to be his marine engraver. Life Fittler was born in London in Octo ...

in the digitised copy o
Scotia Depicta, or the antiquities, castles, public buildings, noblemen and gentlemen's seats, cities, towns and picturesque scenery of Scotland
1804 at

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in the ...

Gordon Castle at House of Gordon, Virginia
– probably dates from the late 18th century * {{coord, 57.62135, N, 3.08918, W, source:placeopedia, display=title Castles in Moray Country houses in Moray Category A listed buildings in Moray Listed castles in Scotland Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes House of Gordon