Kildrummy Castle

Kildrummy Castle stands in ruin in the uplands of Aberdeenshire, one of the most extensive thirteenth-century castles to survive in eastern Scotland. It was probably raised in the mid-1200s by Gilbert de Moravia, and its siting may have been shaped by the trackway crossings of the Grampian Mounth. The castle became the seat of the Earls of Mar, and its distinctive shield-shaped plan gathered a ring of independent towers behind a massive twin-towered gatehouse set at the pointed end of the enclosure. Taller than the rest rose the Snow Tower, a keep built in the French manner much as at Bothwell Castle, while a dry moat and a steep ravine strengthened the defences. The stronghold saw hard use. In August and September 1306 it was besieged in defence of Robert the Bruce’s family, an episode that led to the execution of Nigel Bruce and many other Scots. It was besieged again in 1335, when Christina Bruce held out against David of Strathbogie until Sir Andrew Murray relieved her. Held later by the Elphinstone and Erskine families, the castle was finally abandoned in 1716 after the failure of the 1715 Jacobite Rising. It passed into state care in 1951.