Aberdour Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Aberdour Castle |
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| Aberdour, Fife, Scotland UK grid reference NT192854 |
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South front of Aberdour Castle; the oldest part is on the left
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 Aberdour Castle
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| Coordinates | 56°03′19″N 3°17′54″W / 56.0552°N 3.2983°W |
| Type | Tower house with later extensions |
| Site information | |
| Owner | Historic Environment Scotland |
| Controlled by | Earl of Morton |
| Open to the public |
Yes |
| Condition | Partially ruined |
| Site history | |
| Built | c.1200-1635 |
| In use | Until 1725 |
| Materials | Stone |
Aberdour Castle is a historic castle located in the village of Easter Aberdour, in Fife, Scotland. Some parts of the castle date back to around 1200. This makes Aberdour one of the oldest standing castles in Scotland, similar in age to Castle Sween in Argyll.
The first part of the castle was a simple building called a hall house. It was built on a spot overlooking the Dour Burn. Over the next 400 years, the castle grew bigger and changed with new building styles. The hall house became a tower house in the 15th century. It was then made even larger twice in the 16th century.
The last big addition was made around 1635, showing off fancy Renaissance designs. The castle also had a walled garden to the east and terraced gardens to the south. These terraces, built in the mid-1500s, are some of the oldest gardens in Scotland. They offer amazing views across the Firth of Forth towards Edinburgh.
Most of Aberdour Castle was built by the Douglas Earls of Morton. They owned Aberdour from the 14th century onwards. The earls used Aberdour as a second home until 1642. At that time, their main home, Dalkeith House, was sold.
A fire in the late 1600s damaged the castle. Some repairs were made, but in 1725, the family bought a new house nearby called Aberdour House. The old medieval castle was then left to slowly fall apart. Today, only the part built in the 17th century still has a roof. The tower has mostly collapsed. Aberdour Castle is now looked after by Historic Environment Scotland and is open for visitors all year.
Contents
History of Aberdour Castle
Early Beginnings of the Castle
The land of Aberdour was first owned in 1126 by Sir Alan de Mortimer. He got it when he married Anicea, daughter of Sir John de Vipont. Sir Alan built St Fillan's Church, which is still next to the castle, around 1140. His family likely built the first hall house around 1200, or even earlier.
Later, in the early 1300s, King Robert the Bruce gave Aberdour to his relative, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray. Moray's grandson then gave the land to Sir William Douglas, Lord of Liddesdale in 1342.
In 1351, Sir William Douglas gave the Aberdour lands to his nephew, Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith. However, he kept the castle for himself until he died two years later. King David II confirmed this gift in 1361. By 1386, Aberdour and Dalkeith were joined into one large estate. Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, became the main home, and Aberdour was a second home.
James, fourth Lord Dalkeith, took over the estate in 1456. He was made the Earl of Morton in 1458, before marrying Joanna, the daughter of King James I. The new earl made the existing hall house taller and rebuilt parts of it to fit his new important status. The second earl added more to Aberdour Castle around 1500. He built a new stair tower and a south block.
Changes in the 16th Century
In 1538, King James V had issues with the 3rd Earl of Morton. The King accused him of not paying his taxes and sent him away in 1540. Morton had to give up his lands to a relative, Robert Douglas of Lochleven.
After King James V died in 1542, Morton got his lands back, including Aberdour. In return, two of Morton's daughters married sons of those who helped him. George Douglas of Pittendreich's son, James (1525-1581), married Morton's main heiress, Elizabeth. He became the 4th Earl of Morton in 1553.
Aberdour Castle was used by Morton's mother-in-law, Katherine Stewart, until 1564. In 1566, Morton was involved in a plan against Mary, Queen of Scots. This led to a difficult time for the Queen. Morton had to escape to England for a short while. But by the next year, Queen Mary was imprisoned and had to give up her throne. Morton was then chosen to be the Regent of Scotland in 1572, ruling for the young King James VI.
During the 1570s, Morton made more additions to the castle. He rebuilt the south block from around 1500. He also extended it further south to create the main central part we see today. He was inspired by fancy gardens in England, like Hampton Court, when he designed the terraced gardens.
Important meetings of the Scottish government were held at Aberdour Castle in August 1576. Morton's time as Regent ended in 1578. He later faced serious accusations about the death of Queen Mary's husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was executed in 1581 by order of the young King.
While Morton was in prison, his lands were given to his nephew, Archibald Douglas, 8th Earl of Angus. After Morton's execution, the lands went to the Earl of Lennox. In 1587, Lennox returned the lands to Angus, who was now known as the 5th Earl of Morton. When Angus died in 1588, the title of Earl of Morton went to another relative, William Douglas of Lochleven.
King James VI and Anne of Denmark stayed at Aberdour for five days in December 1590.
The Later Earls of Morton
William Douglas, 7th Earl of Morton (1582-1648) inherited Aberdour from his grandfather in 1606. He was in charge of Scotland's money from 1630 to 1636. He strongly supported the royal family during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms (1639-1651). However, he spent a lot of his money helping the King. This caused him financial problems. He had to sell Dalkeith to the Earl of Buccleuch in 1642.
Earl William built the Renaissance-style east wing at Aberdour, probably around 1635. Records from 1647 show it had luxurious furniture, carpets, and tapestries. The walled garden was also built in the 1630s, and the terraces were improved. This made Aberdour a suitable main home for the Earls after Dalkeith was sold.
The Earls of Morton continued to live at Aberdour. However, they never got back their earlier high status. In 1688, a fire badly damaged the castle. In 1690, the 11th Earl asked architect James Smith for help. Smith looked at the damage and suggested repairs and adding another wing. The Earl also thought about tearing down the tower house. None of these big plans happened, but repairs were made to the east wing, finishing in 1703.
The Castle's Final Decline
Soldiers were stationed at Aberdour Castle during the Jacobite Rising of 1715. While they were there, a second fire caused a lot of damage. In 1725, the Mortons bought a nearby house called Cuttlehill House. They renamed it Aberdour House. The castle then stopped being a home.
The east wing was repaired again and used for different things. It was a school room, a barracks for soldiers, and a meeting place for Freemasons. In 1924, the castle and its gardens were put under state care. Today, Historic Environment Scotland manages it as a place for visitors. The south-east wing was first fixed up as a home for the caretaker. Now, it has a cafe. The castle is a protected Scheduled Ancient Monument. Its grounds are also listed on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, which is a national list of important gardens.
What Aberdour Castle Looks Like
The castle originally had the hall house from the 12th or 13th century. This was made bigger in the 15th century. In the 16th century, the central part was built south of the tower house. New inner and outer courtyard walls were also added.
The eastern part of the inner courtyard wall is now just foundations. But the base of a round tower and a gatehouse still exist. To the west, the inner courtyard wall remains. It surrounds the old service area, which had a brewery and a bakehouse with ovens. The east wing was added in the 17th century, along the south edge of the outer courtyard.
The castle was first entered from the north. The entrance was moved to the west, along with a 17th-century gate, when the Aberdour railway line was built in 1890.
The Tower House Section
The tower house is about 16 meters (52 feet) long and 11 meters (36 feet) wide. It has a slightly twisted rectangular shape. The bottom two floors are the oldest parts of the castle, dating to around 1200. The upper parts were added in the 15th century.
We know the original building's age from several clues. The large, square stone blocks, the flat buttress on the northeast, and the way the walls widen at the bottom all point to this early date. A collapsed part of the south wall also used to have a double-lancet window from the early 13th century. The first building, a hall house, probably had two or three floors. It likely had a main hall on the first floor above a basement. It might have been surrounded by a wooden fence or enclosure for defense.
The 15th-century rebuilding added two more floors and changed the inside. Arched basements, including a kitchen, and a spiral staircase were put in. The taller wall was topped with a parapet that had machicolations. These were openings through which things could be dropped on attackers below. The tower suffered major collapses in 1844 and 1919. Today, only the basement remains, with just a small part of the southeast wall still standing tall.
The Central Part of the Castle
Building the central part began around 1500. It might have been a two-story building with a great hall, but only small pieces of it remain. The south entrance to the tower house was blocked. A new ground-floor entrance was made from the east.
A new stair tower, with a wide spiral staircase, was built at the southeast corner. This stair, which once had a cone-shaped roof, led to the upper floors in the tower and the central part. Around 1570, the 4th Earl of Morton rebuilt this section. He extended it further south to create new living spaces. This part, now the three-story central range, includes a vaulted kitchen and cellar in the basement. Rooms are built above these.
The two bedrooms on the first floor each have their own small rooms and garderobes (toilets). The western apartment can be reached from the terraced garden. It has another stair to the southwest. It also has a private stair that led to another room above. This suggests these were the Earl and Countess's private apartments. The top floor, which no longer has its wooden floor, had three more apartments.
The outside of this section has a decorative horizontal stone strip called a string course. One window on the first floor is decorated with carved stone pilasters (flat columns) and strapwork (a type of ornament). This style is similar to windows at Edinburgh Castle and Drochil Castle. Both were built when Morton was Regent.
The East Wing of the Castle
The east wing, built around 1635, is a long, narrow building. It has a short section sticking out to the southeast. This is the only part of the castle that still has a roof. The first floor of this wing has a long gallery. This long room is reached from the central part of the castle. Stables and storage rooms are below it.
The long gallery was used for entertaining guests. In 1647, records show it had 46 pictures and a harpsichord, among other furniture. In the southeast section, there are three rooms, one on each floor. They are connected by a spiral stair. The room on the first floor has a 17th-century painted ceiling. It is decorated with pictures of fruit, leaves, and family symbols.
The south-east wing has crow-step gables, which are stair-shaped roof edges. It also has a sundial on one corner. The east window of the long gallery is decorated with pilasters and a pediment (a triangular shape above the window). The roof was replaced in the 1700s and is lower than the original. This means the triangular pediments that once topped each side window are now gone.
The Castle Gardens
Aberdour Castle has had gardens since at least 1540. The terraced garden was built during the time of the 4th Earl of Morton, who became Earl in 1553. It has four wide, L-shaped terraces. At the bottom of the terraces was an orchard, planted in 1690 and recently replanted.
The full size of the terraced garden was only found after digging in the 1970s. Before that, parts of the garden were used for growing vegetables to sell. Between 1977 and 1980, archaeologists dug to see if the lower terraces, shown on a 1740 map, really existed. They found the foundations of the terraces. While they couldn't say exactly when they were built, it's thought they were made in the second half of the 16th century. The tall retaining walls were rebuilt in 1981. The terraces were covered with grass, as the digs didn't show what plants were originally there.
A 16th-century "beehive" shaped doocot, or pigeon house, is located to the south. It has about 600 nesting boxes for pigeons. This 9-meter (30-foot) tall building rises in four steps. These steps are divided by "rat courses," which are projecting ribs that stopped rats from climbing inside.
The 17th-century walled garden covers about 5000 square meters (1.2 acres). Its walls are up to 4 meters (13 feet) high. It is to the west of the outer courtyard. It was originally entered through doors in the southwest and northeast corners. These doors have carved decorations. The west door, which led to the terraces, has strapwork and the Douglas family's heart symbol. The east door led to St. Fillan's Church and has the date 1632 carved on it, along with the initials of the Earl and Countess.
A kitchen garden was located across Kirk Lane. Bee boles, which are small alcoves for beehives, are in the walls. A summer house was built into the south-east garden wall in 1675. However, it was taken down in the 1700s.
In 1691, the botanist James Sutherland brought unusual plants to Aberdour. These included Persian jasmine, tamarisks, and figs. They came from the Physic Garden in Edinburgh, which later became the Royal Botanic Garden. The later entrance in the west wall was added around 1740. During World War II, the garden was used for growing food and raising pigs.
In the center of the garden, there is an early 17th-century polygonal sundial. It is mounted on a base from the 1800s. The sundial was brought here before 1887, possibly from Castle Wigg in southwest Scotland.
Aberdour House
This house was originally called Cuttlehill. It was built in the 17th century, with a date of 1672. Its owner, the Earl of Moray, made it bigger in 1715. The Earl of Morton bought it in 1725. This is when they finally moved out of the old, crumbling castle.
In 1731, the 12th Earl asked architect James Gibbs for ideas to improve the house. We don't know how many of Gibbs' ideas were actually built. However, the doorway has a design similar to Gibbs' style. By the 1900s, the house was not used. In the 1990s, it was turned into private apartments. The house is a Category A listed building. It used to have its own large gardens. These included a 12-meter (39-foot) tall obelisk built in 1744–45. The 13th Earl built it so it could be seen from his estate at Dalmahoy, across the Firth of Forth.
See also
In Spanish: Castillo de Aberdour para niños
