Kincardine was a burgh in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

, near the present-day village of

Fettercairn Fettercairn (, gd, Fothair Chàrdain) is a small village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, northwest of Laurencekirk in Aberdeenshire on the B966 from Edzell. Fettercairn is also reached via the Cairn O' Mount road (B974) from Deeside. The name ...

. It served as the first county town of

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the Stewartry"), is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and ...

. The settlement gradually developed around Kincardine Castle. The origin of the castle is not known, although it has been popularly identified as the place of death of

Kenneth II Cináed mac Maíl Coluim ( gd, Coinneach mac Mhaoil Chaluim, label=Scottish Gaelic language, Modern Scottish Gaelic, Anglicisation, anglicised Kenneth II, and nicknamed , "The Fratricide, Fratricidal"; died 995) was Kingdom of Scotland, King of Sc ...

. The Carnegies were made stewards of the castle during the reign of

William the Lion William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough"''Uilleam Garbh''; e.g. Annals of Ulster, s.a. 1214.6; Annals of Loch Cé, s.a. 1213.10. ( 1142 – 4 December 1214), reigned as King of Scots from 11 ...

. In 1296, it was the location where

John Balliol John Balliol ( – late 1314), known derisively as ''Toom Tabard'' (meaning "empty coat" – coat of arms), was King of Scots from 1292 to 1296. Little is known of his early life. After the death of Margaret, Maid of Norway, Scotland entered an ...

confessed to rebellion against

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he ruled the duchies of Aquitaine and Gascony as a vas ...

. It was kept in good repair over the following centuries, and was visited by

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legitimate child of James V of S ...

. By 1532, the castle was a secondary residence of William Keith, 4th Earl Marischal, and appears to have been at the centre of the small town, occupying about two hundred yards between gates on the main road. The Earl petitioned for Kincardine to be declared as a free burgh and county town for the Mearns. The petition claimed that the sheriff courts for the Mearns were already being held in the town, and that it was reputed to have previously been made a free burgh, but that the charter had been lost. He was successful, and on 27 January 1531/2, Kincardine became the county town of the newly created county of Kincardineshire. By 1600, the burgh was in decline, and the sheriff and his deputes complained to the king that the accommodation for them was unsuitable, no

tolbooth A tolbooth or town house was the main municipal building of a Scottish burgh, from medieval times until the 19th century. The tolbooth usually provided a council meeting chamber, a court house and a jail. The tolbooth was one of three esse ...

having been constructed; they were successful in having the county town moved to

Stonehaven Stonehaven ( , ) is a town in Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census. After the demise of the town of Kincardine, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal cast ...

. Without county town status, Kincardine quickly dwindled, and the castle fell into ruin. By the 1830s, it was described as a "mere hamlet" and it was noted that "only the foundations of the

astle Astle is an English surname of dual origins. In the East Midlands, the surname is certainly of patronymic origin. This is also a possibility in Cheshire yet the name there more probably originated as a locative surname. Origin in the East ...

walls can be traced", and by 1870 there were no surviving houses. The castle foundations survive today, forming a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

. The cemetery of the former St Catherine of Siena Chapel also survives, with part of its wall and an 18th-century gravestone.{{cite web, title=St Catherine's Chapel and Burying Ground, url=http://www.scottishchurches.org.uk/sites/site/id/9496/name/St+Catherine%27s+Chapel+and+Burying+Ground+Fordoun+Grampian, website=Places of Worship in Scotland, publisher=Scottish Church Heritage Research, accessdate=16 February 2018

References

Former county towns in Scotland Geography of Aberdeenshire Ghost towns in Scotland Kincardineshire