Scotland · Restored
Hatton Castle
Hatton Castle is a 16th-century Scottish Z-plan tower house built in 1575 for the Oliphant family, located on Hatton Hill above Newtyle in Angus. The building was de-roofed in the 18th century and later restored; it is now a privately owned family home and a Category B listed building.
Its prime
1575
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1575
What Hatton Castle looked like in its prime.
A compact Z-plan tower house of the late 16th century: a main rectangular block with two projecting corner towers creating an irregular silhouette. Walls are sandstone beneath a traditional lime harling rendered in a pinkish tone, pierced by tall leaded windows with small panes of hand-made glass. Sited on the lower slope of Hatton Hill, the castle faces the wooded Den of Newtyle with open views across Strathmore to distant hills; the structure appears complete and regularly roofed.
Its story
The story of Hatton Castle.
Hatton Castle was built in 1575 for Laurence, fourth Lord Oliphant, as a Z-plan tower house on the lower slopes of Hatton Hill, the most easterly of the Sidlaw Hills, south of Newtyle in Angus. An earlier castle, Balcraig, stood less than half a mile away on the same hill, and the 4th Lord also extended Kellie Castle in Fife, which bears many similarities.
Hatton was the home of the Masters of Oliphant rather than their fathers, who resided primarily at Aberdalgie and Dupplin. One old anecdote records the Scots custom of "enforced hospitality" here: the Lords Oliphant "used to keep a cannon pointed to the road near by their old castle, so as to compel the wayfarers to come in and be regaled".
De-roofed in the 18th century, the castle gradually became encrusted in ivy and home to pigeons and jackdaws, until the Kinpurnie Estate sold it for reconstruction. It is now a family home once more, restoration has continued with the specialist castle-restorer Gordon Matthew of Midmar, a Category B listed building whose Great Hall hosts non-commercial house concerts.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1575.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Hatton Castle, including 5 interiors: great hall, laird's bedroom with priest hole, strong room (treasury) 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.
Build Your Own Castle
Recreate Hatton Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1575, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Clans who held Hatton Castle.
The families that held Hatton Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Oliphant
Built in 1575 for Laurence, 4th Lord Oliphant; home of the Masters of Oliphant.
From the archive
Hatton 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. 630. — Hatton Castle. Plans.
1892 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 4 (1892)
Public domain
