Corgarff Castle is located slightly west of the village of
Corgarff
Corgarff ( gd, Corr Garaidh) is a hamlet in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in the Grampian Mountains. The nearby Corgarff Castle was used as a military barracks in the 18th century. The hamlet's primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the ...
, 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 ...
, north-east
Scotland. It stands by the Lecht road, which crosses the pass between
Strathdon and
Tomintoul.
Life
The castle was built around 1530 by the Elphinstone family and leased to the Forbes of
Towie.
In 1571 it was burned by their enemy,
Adam Gordon of Auchindoun, resulting in the deaths of Margaret Campbell, Lady Forbes, her children, and numerous others, 26 in total, and giving rise to the ballad
Edom o Gordon.
In May 1607 the castle was captured from
Alexander, 4th Lord Elphinstone by Alexander Forbes of Towie and his companions, including a piper called George McRobie. They used hammers and battering rams to break down the gate, then fortified the house with a garrison of "Highland thieves and limmers".
In 1626 it was acquired by the
Earl of Mar. In 1645 it was used as an assembly point by the troops of the
Marquis of Montrose. It was burned again in both 1689 and 1716 by Jacobite supporters. It was resettled by the Forbes family in 1745 but had to be forfeited due to their Jacobite leanings.
In 1748 it was bought by the British government and rebuilt and extended as a barracks. A detachment of government troops were stationed there, on the
military road from
Braemar Castle to
Fort George
Fort George may refer to:
Forts
Bermuda
* Fort George, Bermuda, built in the late 18th Century and successively developed through the 19th Century, on a site that had been in use as a watch and signal station since 1612 British Virgin Islands
* ...
, Inverness. Military use continued as late as 1831, after which the tower was used to suppress illegal whisky distilling in the surrounding area. It remained part of the Delnadamph estate belonging to the Stockdale family until they passed the castle into state care in 1961 and gave the ownership of the castle to the Lonach Highland and Friendly Society.
It is now in the care of
Historic Environment Scotland and is open to the public. It has been designated a
scheduled ancient monument.
References
*
External links
*Historic Environment Scotland
Visitor guide*360 Photographic Virtual Tour
Snow Covered 360 Virtual Tour of Corgarff grounds {{Marr, Aberdeenshire places, state = collapsed
Castles in Aberdeenshire
Museums in Aberdeenshire
Military and war museums in Scotland
Historic house museums in Aberdeenshire
Historic Scotland properties in Aberdeenshire
Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Aberdeenshire
Tower houses in Scotland