Scotland · Partial ruin
The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle
The Bass of Inverurie is the earthwork remnant of a motte-and-bailey castle situated within Inverurie Cemetery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site consists of a large scarped motte and an adjacent smaller oval bailey called the Little Bass; the earthworks date to the 12th and 13th centuries and are a scheduled monument.
Its prime
1250
Today
Partial ruin
As it stood in 1250
What The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle looked like in its prime.
A dominant grassy conical motte about 12 m high with scarped, steeply-cut sides and an 18 m-wide flat summit, standing beside a lower, oval bailey mound (the Little Bass) roughly 30 by 23 m and about 5 m high. Both mounds are earth and turf with a surrounding shallow ditch where visible; the setting is low-lying pasture and cemetery ground with mature trees nearby and a small river or stream running in front of the motte.
Its story
The story of The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle.
The Bass of Inverurie is what remains of the motte-and-bailey castle of Inverurie, which served as the administrative centre of the Garioch in the 12th and 13th centuries. The motte is a natural mound, modified by scarping its sides and digging a surrounding ditch, now about 12 metres high; to the east the Little Bass, an oval mound roughly 30 by 23 metres, marks the former bailey. The hereditary constables of the castle in this period were members of the De Lesselyn — Leslie — family.
The earthworks now stand within Inverurie Cemetery in Aberdeenshire and are protected as a scheduled monument. Excavations in the 19th century revealed the remains of an oaken gangway on the motte, and medieval pottery — including fragments of a 14th-century face-mask jug — has been found in the surrounding ditch.
Step inside
7 places to explore in 1250.
The record describes 7 distinct spots at The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle — including the full exterior approach. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and walk through every one — more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
Create History
Recreate The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1250 — a photoreal walk that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
Recreate this castle →Whose castle
Clans who held The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle.
The families that held The Bass and Little Bass, motte-and-bailey castle for a decade or more across its history — follow a name to its clan.
The De Lesselyn (Leslie) family were hereditary constables of the castle of Inverurie in the 12th and 13th centuries.
Nearby
