Scotland · Ruin
Kildrummy Castle
Kildrummy Castle is a large medieval fortress near Kildrummy in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, built from the mid-13th century and extensively occupied through the late medieval period. It is notable for a shield-shaped plan with multiple independent towers, a tall keep called the Snow Tower, and extensive earthwork defenses; the site is now a scheduled monument cared for by Historic Environment Scotland.
Its prime
1507
Today
Ruin
As it stood in 1507
What Kildrummy Castle looked like in its prime.
A shield-shaped stone castle set on pastureland above a steep ravine, its flat face looking over the drop while the opposite side comes to a defended point. The plan includes multiple independent towers of varying shapes, a taller central keep called the Snow Tower in a French manner, and a massive twin-towered gatehouse at the pointed end. Thick grey masonry curtain walls surround inner and outer wards, with visible lower-storey walls and extensive earthen banks and a dry moat encircling the site.
Its story
The story of Kildrummy Castle.
The Shield-Shaped Seat of the Earls of Mar
Kildrummy was probably built in the mid-13th century under Gilbert de Moravia, and became the seat of the Earls of Mar. Its position has been linked to the Grampian Mounth trackway crossings, particularly the Elsick Mounth and the Cryne Corse Mounth, though the argument is a suggestion rather than a settled case.
The plan is shield-shaped, with a number of independent towers. Its flat side overlooks a steep ravine; on the opposite side the walls converge to a point once defended by a massive twin-towered gatehouse, and extensive earthworks, including a dry moat, protected the castle. The keep, called the Snow Tower, stood taller than the rest and was built in the French manner, as at Bothwell Castle. Enough survives for it to count among the most extensive 13th-century castles in eastern Scotland, and excavations in 1925 turned up decorative stone flooring and evidence of battles.
The Sieges of 1306 and 1335
The castle was besieged repeatedly. The first of those sieges came in August and September 1306, when Kildrummy was held in defence of the family of Robert the Bruce; it ended in the executions of Nigel Bruce and many other Scots. In 1335 David of Strathbogie brought a second siege against it, and Christina Bruce held off the attackers until her husband, Sir Andrew Murray, came to her rescue. In the reign of David II, Walter Maule of Panmure served as warden of the castle.
Alexander Stewart Claims the Earldom, 1403-1507
In 1403-4 Alexander Stewart murdered Sir Malcolm Drummond, took his widow Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar, by force, and laid claim both to Kildrummy and to the title of Earl of Mar. In 1435 James I took the castle over and it became a royal castle; in 1468 Henry Kinghorn kept it for James III and spent £100 Scots on building works and repairs. James IV granted the keeping of Kildrummy and its lands to Alexander Elphinstone, 1st Lord Elphinstone, and his wife Elizabeth Barlow in 1507.
Stripped, Held and Abandoned, 1538-1716
In 1538 John Strachan, the young laird of Lenturk, raided the castle and carried off its furnishings and fixtures, bringing a blacksmith to strip the ironwork from the windows and doors; some of the metal was beaten into horseshoes and used to mend ploughs at the Kirktoun of Glenbuchat. In May 1585 Margaret Haldane, wife of David Erskine, Commendator of Dryburgh, was held prisoner at Kildrummy in the custody of the Master of Elphinstone.
In 1645 Robert Farquharson of Invercauld was keeper of the castle for the Earl of Mar and his son Lord Erskine, helped by the laird of Glenkindie, who feared what a garrison of outsider or "stranger" soldiers would do to his lands. The castle passed from the Elphinstones to the Erskines, and was abandoned in 1716 after the failure of the Jacobite Rising of 1715.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1507.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Kildrummy Castle, including 1 interior: interior of the snow tower's principal chamber. 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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Clans who held Kildrummy Castle.
The families that held Kildrummy Castle for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
Elphinstone
Granted the keeping of Kildrummy and its lands by James IV in 1507; the Elphinstones held it until it passed to the Erskines.
Held Kildrummy after the Elphinstones until its abandonment in 1716, following the failure of the Jacobite Rising of 1715.
