House of Schivas is an

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 ...

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 ...

, dating from the 16th century, about three miles east of

Methlick Methlick (Scottish Gaelic language, Gaelic: ''Maothulach'') is a village in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated on the River Ythan north-west of Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Ellon. Services Methlick is served by a parish church, ...

, in the valley of the

River Ythan The Ythan is a river in the north-east of Scotland rising at Wells of Ythan near the village of Ythanwells and flowing south-eastwards through the towns of Fyvie, Methlick and Ellon before flowing into the North Sea near Newburgh, in Formartine ...

, 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 ...

History

The land was owned by Schivas of that Ilk in the 14th century, but it passed through heiresses to the Lipp family, and then to the Maitland family. George, Lord

Gordon Gordon may refer to: People * Gordon (given name), a masculine given name, including list of persons and fictional characters * Gordon (surname), the surname * Gordon (slave), escaped to a Union Army camp during the U.S. Civil War * Clan Gordon, ...

came into possession of the lands in 1467, but Thomas

Gray Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...

of Scheves occupied the land by 1509. It is thought that this family built the present castle. By 1721 the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

family owned the castle, and altered it internally. It had become a farmhouse by the late 19th century. After it was burned out in 1900, it was restored for

Lord Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, (28 January 178414 December 1860), styled Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British statesman, diplomat and landowner, successively a Tory, Conservative and Peelite politician and specialist in ...

Sydney Mitchell Arthur George Sydney Mitchell (7 January 1856 – 13 October 1930) was a Scottish architect. He designed a large number of bank branches, country houses, churches, and church halls. His most significant commissions include the housing develop ...

, in 1902.

Thomas Catto, 1st Baron Catto Thomas Sivewright Catto, 1st Baron Catto CBE PC (15 March 1879 – 23 August 1959) was a Scottish businessman and later Governor of the Bank of England. Early life and education Catto was born in Newcastle upon Tyne, to William and Isabella Cat ...

subsequently had the castle embellished by J Fenton Wyness, an antiquarian architect. The original building has been attributed to Thomas Leper, around 1585. The north-east tower, three storeys high, was added in about 1750, by the Forbeses, and a western extension to the main block in 1780.

Structure

House of Schivas is a tall tower house. A modern courtyard surrounds it, replacing the original. A wide circular stair tower projecting from the north front of the main block gives access to all floors, while a stair tower in the re-entrant angle rises from the first floor level. There is a modern timber re-entrant angle turret. The wing is offset to the east a little, probably to give additional protection to the entrance of the re-entrant angle. The main doorway has four groups of shot holes of differing forms around it. The kitchen is in the vaulted basement, from which a vaulted passage leads to two cellars. The hall is panelled in sequoia wood, and has aumbries, a

garderobe Garderobe is a historic term for a room in a medieval castle. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' gives as its first meaning a store-room for valuables, but also acknowledges "by extension, a private room, a bed-chamber; also a privy". The word der ...

and a chapel recess with a crucifix and the

monogram A monogram is a motif made by overlapping or combining two or more letters or other graphemes to form one symbol. Monograms are often made by combining the initials of an individual or a company, used as recognizable symbols or logos. A series o ...

I.H.S. It is a category B

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 ...

References

{{coord , 57.4214, N, 2.1730, W, display=title Castles in Aberdeenshire Category B listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Listed castles in Scotland