Hatton Castle on the morning of a shoot - geograph

Hatton Castle is almost south-east of

Turriff Turriff () is a town and civil parish in Aberdeenshire in Scotland. It lies on the River Deveron, about above sea level, and has a population of 5,708. In everyday speech it is often referred to by its Scots name ''Turra'', which is derived fr ...

, Aberdeenshire in the north-east of Scotland. Formerly known as Balquholly Castle, sometimes spelt as ''Balquollie'', it was renamed in 1814. The mansion was designated 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 ...

in 1972; the gardens are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.

History

In the early 14th century

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventual ...

granted the lands, then known as Loscraigie, to Patrick de Monte Alto. Mowat is the anglicisation of de Monte Alto. The Balquholly name was adopted some time before the 16th century. Records indicate there was a castle (spelt Balquholy) on the lands in the early 1500s, but it is likely it may have an earlier date. Purchased by Alexander Duff of Hatton in 1709 – although the contracts were not finalised until 1729 – ownership has remained with members of the family into the 21st century.

Mansion house

Construction of the present castellated mansion began in 1812 and was completed by 1814; it was at this time the name was changed to Hatton Castle. It has a round tower at each corner and incorporates sections of the ancient building. The stone-built mansion has three storeys plus a basement and an attic. A wine cellar and gun room are in the basement. The ground floor hall has a glass

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, from ...

set above a stone staircase that provides access to the first floor. There are two bedrooms on the first floor and seven on the second floor; the attic contains four additional bedrooms, a bathroom and storage space. The mansion was designated a category A

by Historic Scotland on 28 November 1972. The gardens are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland and assessed under the historical and architectural sections as outstanding. A

baluster A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its cons ...

sundial A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a flat ...

dates to 1703. It is a cube with hollowed arrises sitting on a pyramid. There is also a late-18th-century coach house, rectangular in form, and a square home farm designed by W Leslie in 1828. A T-plan buttress Gothic

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the interment space or burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be consid ...

, 1861, is the work of A & W Reid.

References

Notes Citations Bibliography * * * {{coord, 57, 30, 44, N, 2, 24, 25, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Castles in Aberdeenshire Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes