Braemar Castle is situated near the village of
Braemar
Braemar is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, around west of Aberdeen in the Highlands. It is the closest significantly-sized settlement to the upper course of the River Dee sitting at an elevation of .
The Gaelic ''Brà igh Mhà rr'' prop ...
in
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
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. It is a possession of the chief of
Clan Farquharson
Clan Farquharson () ( gd, Clann Fhearchair ) is a Highland Scottish clan based at Invercauld and Braemar, Aberdeenshire, and is a member of the Chattan Confederation.Way, George and Squire, Romily. (1994). ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyc ...
and is leased to a local charitable foundation. It is open to the public.
History
From the
Late Middle Ages
The Late Middle Ages or Late Medieval Period was the Periodization, period of European history lasting from AD 1300 to 1500. The Late Middle Ages followed the High Middle Ages and preceded the onset of the early modern period (and in much of Eur ...
, the castle was a stronghold of the
Earls of Mar. The present Braemar Castle was constructed in 1628 by
John Erskine, Earl of Mar, as a hunting lodge and to counter the rising power of the Farquharsons,
[''Braemar Castle'', Nevisprint Ltd, Fort William, 20 pages, ] replacing an older building, which was the successor of nearby
Kindrochit Castle, which dates from the 11th century
AD. The siting of Kindrochit Castle was based upon the strategic location of this site relative to historic crossings of the
Grampian
Grampian ( gd, Roinn a' Mhonaidh) was one of nine former local government regions of Scotland created in 1975 by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and abolished in 1996 by the Local Government etc. (Scotland) Act 1994. The region to ...
Mounth
The Mounth ( ) is the broad upland in northeast Scotland between the Highland Boundary and the River Dee, at the eastern end of the Grampians.
Name and etymology
The name ''Mounth'' is ultimately of Pictish origin. The name is derived from ' ...
.
An important garrison after the
1745 Jacobite rising
The Jacobite rising of 1745, also known as the Forty-five Rebellion or simply the '45 ( gd, Bliadhna Theà rlaich, , ), was an attempt by Charles Edward Stuart to regain the British throne for his father, James Francis Edward Stuart. It took pl ...
, Braemar Castle had been attacked and burned by
John Farquharson, the ''Black Colonel'' of
Inverey
Inverey (; gd, Inbhir Eidh) is a hamlet on Mar Lodge Estate, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Description
The hamlet straddles the Ey Burn close to its confluence with the River Dee.
Inverey comprises two 'communities' separated by the Ey Burn â ...
during the
Jacobite rising of 1689
The Jacobite rising of 1689 was a conflict fought primarily in the Scottish Highlands, whose objective was to put James II & VII back on the throne, following his deposition by the November 1688 Glorious Revolution. Named after "Jacobus", the L ...
, to prevent it being used as a garrison by Government troops. In 1716 the castle was forfeited to the Crown following the Earl of Mar's leadership of the
1715 Jacobite rising
The Jacobite rising of 1715 ( gd, Bliadhna Sheumais ;
or 'the Fifteen') was the attempt by James Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to regain the thrones of England, Ireland and Scotland for the exiled Stuarts.
At Braemar, Aberdeenshire, lo ...
. The castle and lands were purchased by
John Farquharson, 9th Laird of Invercauld but the building was left in
ruins
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
until 1748 when it was leased to the government at a fee of £14 per year, now to serve as a
garrison
A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...
for
Hanover
Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...
ian troops. From 1760 to 1806 the estate was used largely for commercial woodland, but on a massive scale, with James Farquharson of Invercauld planting 16 million fir trees and 2 million
larch
Larches are deciduous conifers in the genus ''Larix'', of the family Pinaceae (subfamily Laricoideae). Growing from tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains furt ...
during this period.
Rebuilding started under the command of
John Adam, Master Mason to the
Board of Ordnance
The Board of Ordnance was a British government body. Established in the Tudor period, it had its headquarters in the Tower of London. Its primary responsibilities were 'to act as custodian of the lands, depots and forts required for the defence ...
.
In 1831 the military garrison was withdrawn and the castle returned to the Farquharson clan. Restoration to provide a family home began under the 12th Laird of Invercauld who entertained
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 ...
there when she attended the
Braemar Gatherings in the grounds of the castle. In 1800 Braemar Castle was documented to have its
moat
A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...
intact.
It has also featured in the video to Andy Stewart's "A Scottish Soldier".
Since 2006 the castle has been leased to the local community. It is run on behalf of the community by local charity, Braemar Community Ltd and staffed by local volunteers, and an ambitious restoration programme has been started. It reopened to the public in 2008.
Braemar Guide : Braemar Castle
Structure
The building is a five-storey L-plan
An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other location ...
castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...
with a star-shaped curtain wall of six sharp-angled salients, and with three storey angle turret
Turret may refer to:
* Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building
* Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon
* Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope
* Mi ...
s. The central tower enfolds a round stair tower and is built of granite
Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
covered with harl
Harling is a rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, where it pr ...
. The main entrance retains an original iron yett
A yett (from the Old English and Scots language word for "gate") is a gate or grille of latticed wrought iron bars used for defensive purposes in castles and tower houses. Unlike a portcullis, which is raised and lowered vertically using mecha ...
, and many of the windows are protected by heavy iron grilles.
On the ground floor are stone-vaulted rooms which contained the guardroom, ammunition store and original kitchen. These are built out into the salients of the outer wall, and in Victorian times a second kitchen was added adjoining the staff rooms. In the floor of a passage, an iron grill provided access to the ''Laird's Pit'', a dark hole used as a dungeon.
On each of the upper floors a large room and a small room occupied the two arms of the tower. On the first floor are the ''Dining Room'' and ''Morning Room'', whilst on the floor above is the ''Laird's Day Room'', entered by a curved door. Opposite is the ''Rose Room'', and between the two is a small bathroom installed in 1901. In the main wing at this level is the ''Drawing Room'', containing graffiti incised on the window shutters by government troops. The words ''"John Chestnut, Sergeant, 1797"'' can be clearly seen. On the third floor is the ''Four Poster Bedroom'', whilst on the fourth floor lie the ''Ladies Guest Bedroom'', ''Gentlemans Guest Bedroom'' and the ''Principal Bedroom''. These upper floors were used by the Farquharson family in the latter years of their visits.
References
External links
Castle website
Braemar Castle
on Canmore, Historic Environment Scotland. Retrieved 6 October 2017.
Braemar Castle Grounds Winter Virtual Tour
{{Authority control
Castles in Aberdeenshire
Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire
Listed castles in Scotland
Historic house museums in Aberdeenshire
Country houses in Aberdeenshire
Hunting lodges in Scotland
Tower houses in Scotland