Scotland · Still standing
Affleck Castle
Affleck Castle (also Auchenleck Castle) is a 15th-century L-plan tower house in Angus, Scotland. The free-standing rectangular tower rises four storeys with a parapeted garret and retains original defensive features; it is a scheduled monument and not open to the public.
Its prime
1600
Today
Still standing
As it stood in 1600
What Affleck Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall L-plan tower house of roughly rectangular massing in grey rubble stone, rising four storeys plus a parapeted garret to about 18 m. Thick walls with narrow slit windows and small shafted openings, gunloops at ground level, an arched main entrance with a projecting square cap-house stair, and a small square turret at the south‑west angle. Exterior surfaces are coarse rubble; roofline is a continuous parapet and the tower sits amid pasture and scattered trees.
Its story
The story of Affleck Castle.
Affleck Castle, also known as Auchenleck Castle, is a tall L-plan tower house of the 15th century in Angus, four miles north of Monifieth. It was built on the lands of the Auchenlecks of that Ilk, held by the family since 1471. From the mid-17th century it belonged to a family of Reids, who forfeited the castle in 1746 for their activities as Jacobites.
The well-preserved tower rises four storeys to a parapeted garret, 60 feet tall with thick rubble walls. The first-floor hall carries a vaulted ceiling supporting a withdrawing room above, which keeps a spy-hole into the hall so that all movement to the main turnpike stair could be observed. A step up leads to a circular vaulted oratory equipped with aumbry, piscina, holy-water stoup and stone candle-holders.
Defence was built in: gun loops at ground level and two devices for dropping missiles or liquids on attackers, one over the arched door and the other on the west front. The castle is a scheduled monument and is not open to the public.
Step inside
10 places to explore in 1600.
The record describes 10 distinct spots at Affleck Castle, including 6 interiors: vaulted first-floor hall, withdrawing room with spy-hole, entresol bedroom reached by east wall stair and more. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Recreate Affleck Castle with AI to explore it.
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Clans who held Affleck Castle.
The families that held Affleck Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Auchenleck
The Auchenlecks of that Ilk held the lands from 1471 and built the tower upon them.
A family of Reids held Affleck from the mid-17th century until 1746, when they forfeited it for their Jacobite activities.
From the archive
Affleck Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
Fig. 208. — Affleck Castle. View from the North-East.
1887 · MacGibbon & Ross, Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, vol. 1 (1887)
Public domain
Fig. 210. — Affleck Castle. View from the South-West.
1887 · MacGibbon & Ross, Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, vol. 1 (1887)
Public domain
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