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Burgie Castle is a 17th-century Z-plan
Burgie Castle is a 17th-century Z-plan 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 ...
, about east of Forres
Forres (; gd, Farrais) is a town and former royal burgh in the north of Scotland on the Moray coast, approximately northeast of Inverness and west of Elgin. Forres has been a winner of the Scotland in Bloom award on several occasions. There ...
, 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
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 ...
, south-east of Burgie House.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.95
History
The land was transferred fromKinloss Abbey
Kinloss Abbey is a Cistercian abbey at Kinloss in the county of Moray, Scotland.
The abbey was founded in 1150 by King David I and was first colonised by monks from Melrose Abbey. It received its Papal Bull from Pope Alexander III in 1174, and ...
to the Dunbars in 1566, and they constructed the castle. Although in 1645 Dunbar of Burgie was in arms against James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose
James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose (1612 – 21 May 1650) was a Scottish nobleman, poet and soldier, Lord Lieutenant, lord lieutenant and later viceroy and captain general of Scotland. Montrose initially joined the Covenanters in the Wa ...
, in 1650 he bankrupted himself in paying for supplies for the army of Charles II. Thomas Dunbar of Grange purchased the property from him. In 1702 the castle was extended, but in 1802 most of it was demolished to furnish material for Burgie House, which was in due course rebuilt as a plain two-storey mansion in 1902.
Structure
Only the north-west tower, of six storeys, remains from the original castle and a little of the main block. The tower is topped by aparapet
A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). Whe ...
. A corbelled-out stair tower, with a cap house, stands in the re-entrant angle with the main block. There are 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 ...
bars in some windows, while the main entrance has its iron yet still. The walls are pierced by shot holes and embrasures
An embrasure (or crenel or crenelle; sometimes called gunhole in the domain of gunpowder-era architecture) is the opening in a battlement between two raised solid portions (merlons). Alternatively, an embrasure can be a space hollowed out ...
. The basement, and the fifth and sixth stories, are vaulted
In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...
. In the remains of the main block is a fireplace surmounted by the Dunbar arms and the date 1602. Internally there are extensive areas of plasterwork, along with timberwork such as floors, cornices, doors and a shuttered window.
A pleasance wall surrounds the structure. There is a well in what was once the courtyard
A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky.
Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...
.
Preservation is being considered by the Burgie Castle Preservation Trust.
See also
*Castles in Great Britain and Ireland
Castles have played an important military, economic and social role in Great Britain and Ireland since their introduction following the Norman invasion of England in 1066. Although a small number of castles had been built in England in the 10 ...
*List of castles in Scotland
This is a list of castles in Scotland. A castle is a type of fortified structure built primarily during the Middle Ages. Scholars debate the scope of the word "castle", but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or ...
References
{{coord , 57.6147, N, 3.5188, W, display=title Castles in Moray Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Moray