Arnage Castle facts for kids

Arnage Castle is a cool old country house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It's about 4 miles north of Ellon. This special building includes a "Z-plan" tower house. A Z-plan means it's shaped like the letter Z! The main part of the castle was built in the late 1500s. People have added to it over many years.

A Look Back in Time

The Cheyne family first got the land of Arnage a long, long time ago. This was near the end of the 1300s. The Cheynes built the original tower house. But the last Cheyne family member sold it in 1643 to John Sibbald.

Later, in 1702, a man named Baillie John Ross bought the castle. He later became a very important person called a "provost" in Aberdeen. A provost is like a mayor of a city. His old house in Aberdeen from the 1500s has been fixed up.

The Ross family, later called Leith-Ross, owned Arnage for a very long time. Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, a famous economist, grew up at Arnage Castle. He was born in 1887 and passed away in 1968.

In 1996, Arnage became the home of Gareth Jones. He is an oil millionaire. He spent 15 years doing a lot of work to fix up and improve the castle.

How the Castle Grew

The castle you see today was built where an even older fort once stood. The tower house from the 1500s was designed by an architect named Thomas Leper. He added cool features like "triple shot-holes." These are special openings for defending the castle. You can also see these at Tolquhon Castle.

More parts were added to the castle in 1860. These were designed by an architect named James Matthews from Aberdeen. Even more additions were made in the 1960s. Arnage Castle is still lived in today. It is a "category B listed building," which means it's an important historical building in Scotland.

What the Castle Looks Like

The tower house has three main floors. The stair wing, which holds the stairs, has an extra floor. The first way to get into the castle was on the second floor, but this entrance is now closed off.

The basement has a special arched ceiling called a "vaulted" ceiling. The main hall is on the second floor. There used to be a secret stair from the basement wine cellar to the hall, but it's gone now.

There are two "turnpike stairs." These are spiral staircases. They have cool cone-shaped tops called "conical turrets." These stairs are in the corner where the main building and the stair wing meet. Another turret helps you get to the "garret," which is like an attic space.