Fordell Castle facts for kids

Fordell Castle is a beautifully restored castle from the 1500s. It is located about 2 kilometers north-west of Dalgety Bay and 3 kilometers east of Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle were built before 1566, but most of it dates from 1580 or later. The chapel was rebuilt in 1650. The inside of the castle was updated a lot in the 1960s, and then again in the early 2000s. The castle and its land are privately owned, so you cannot visit them on a public tour.

Exploring Fordell Castle's Design

The castle is a strong, fortified house built in a special "Z-plan" shape. This means it has a main rectangular building with square towers at two opposite corners (north-west and south-east). Each tower holds a round staircase. Fordell Castle is unique because it has two main staircases, each with its own outside door.

The main entrance is at the bottom of the north stair tower. It has a strong, studded door with a metal gate called a yett behind it. This leads to a small entry area. Stairs go down to three rooms with arched stone ceilings in the basement. One of these rooms used to hold old punishment devices like stocks and branks, but it is now a wine cellar. An old metal collar, called a jougs, which was used to punish people, hangs near the front door.

Inside the Castle: Rooms and Features

The first floor has the Great Hall on the west side. It has a large stone fireplace. Above the entrance to the Great Hall, there is a carving called a "witch stone." People say it shows Margaret Echlin, a daughter of an early owner, who was accused of witchcraft in 1649. She was found dead before her trial.

To the east of the Great Hall is a smaller sitting room. Its ceiling has cool star and half-moon shapes, which are symbols from the Henderson family's coat of arms. During recent updates, old wood from Edinburgh Castle and Italian Carrera tiles were used for the floors.

On the next level, called the gallery, is the main private apartment. It also has a paneled ceiling with star and half-moon designs. A modern bathroom is connected to this room. Also on this level is the Laird's Study, which has a stone fireplace and access to the second spiral staircase. Above the main staircase is a room known as Queen Mary's Room. It has an arched ceiling, wood panels, and a stone fireplace.

A small part of the roof is flat and has battlements (like a castle wall), a flagpole, and a metal basket for a beacon (a signal fire).

Castle Inscriptions and Art

Above the door in the north tower, you can see the initials I.H. (for James Henderson) and the date March 25, 1580. Higher up, there is another broken stone with I.H. and I.M. (for Henderson's wife, Jean Murray). This stone is also dated 1580. Above this, there is a stone panel with the Henderson and Murray family symbols, dated 1567. It also has the Henderson family motto: ‘Sola Vertus Nobilitat’, which means "Virtue Alone Ennobles."

One of the castle's most interesting features is a lead gargoyle (a decorative spout) on the roof's edge. It looks like a winged, four-legged monster with an open mouth. It is very detailed and lively.

Fordell Castle's Story Through Time

The earliest official paper about the Fordell lands dates back to 1217. At that time, parts of the land were given to the Abbey of Inchcolm. Over the years, different families owned the land.

By 1465, John Henrisoun was in charge of Fordell. In the early 1500s, James Henrysoun (Henderson) bought and brought together different parts of the Fordell land. In 1511, King James IV made this land a special area called a barony.

We don't know exactly when the first castle was built, but the main entrance tower might be from the 1400s.

Famous Visitors and Early Changes

It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed at Fordell Castle. This was when Marion Scott, one of her ladies-in-waiting, married George Henderson, the laird (lord) of Fordell.

James Henderson, the 3rd owner of Fordell, started making the castle bigger in 1566. But in 1567, work stopped because someone else claimed ownership of the land. In 1568, the castle was damaged by fire, but it was rebuilt. You can still see signs of the fire near the main entrance tower.

In the late 1500s, the Henderson family started mining coal on their land. This became a very important part of their family's wealth.

Later History and Restoration

Sir John Henderson rebuilt St Theriot's Chapel in 1650 to be a family burial place. The castle was damaged again in 1651 by Oliver Cromwell's army, who were staying there.

The Hendersons became baronets (a special title) in 1694 during the time of King Charles II.

In the 1800s, the family built a large new house nearby called Fordell House. This house was later torn down in the 1900s, and there's not much left to see of it today. Fordell Castle itself was not used much during the 1800s. At one point, the main hall was even used as a stable!

George Mercer-Henderson updated the castle and added the gates. The north side of the castle was rebuilt in 1855.

In 1953, John Hampden Mercer-Henderson, the 8th Earl of Buckinghamshire, sold off parts of the large estate.

James Henderson (not related to the original family) bought the estate in 1953. He did a great job restoring the castle, and it was lived in again for the first time since 1726. In 1961, Sir Nicholas Fairbairn, a lawyer and politician, bought Fordell. He and his wife, Lady Sam Fairbairn, restored the castle and lived there. After Sir Nicholas died in 1995, he was buried in the crypt (an underground room) below the Chapel of St Theriot on the castle grounds.

Around 1995, Dr. Lorraine Inglis and her husband, Bill Inglis, bought the property. Then, around 1999, a businessman named Andrew Berry purchased it. He did a lot of high-quality restoration work on the castle, chapel, and grounds. In 2007, Fordell Castle was sold for a large sum of money to Stuart Simpson, who became the 17th Baron of Fordell. The castle is still a private home and is a very important historic building, known as a Category A listed building.

Who Owned Fordell Castle?

Many people and families have owned or been connected to Fordell Castle over the centuries.

Early Owners of Fordell

• A. and Richard, son of Hugh de Camera (around 1220).
• William de Hercht (around 1240).
• Sir William de Erth of Plean and Fordell (died around 1449).

Barons of Fordell

• James Henryson, 1st Baron (around 1450-1513) and Elene (Helen) Baty (died around 1534). James Henderson was a lawyer for King James IV. He died with the King at the Battle of Flodden in 1513.
• George Henderson, 2nd Baron (1480-1547) and Katherine Adamson (died 1539), then Marion (Mariota) Scott (died 1566). George Henderson died with his oldest son in the Battle of Pinkie in 1547.
• James Henderson, 3rd Baron (around 1544-around 1610/12) and Jean Murray.
• Sir John Henderson, 4th Baron (died 1618) and Agnes Balfour (died around 1610/15), then Anna Halkat.
• Sir John Henderson, 5th Baron (1605-1650) and Margaret Menteath (died 1653). Sir John was a brave soldier who fought for the King's side (the Royalists) in the Civil War.

Baronets of Fordell

• Sir John Henderson, 1st Baronet (1626-1683) and Margaret Hamiltoun (1635-1671).
• Sir William Henderson, 2nd Baronet (1664-1708) and Jean Hamilton (1667-1731).
• Sir John Henderson, 3rd Baronet (1686-around 1729/30) and Christian Anstruther (died 1760).
• Sir Robert Henderson, 4th Baronet (died 1781) and Isabella (Isabel) Stuart (died 1796).
• Sir John Henderson, 5th Baronet (1752-1817) and Anne Loudoun Robertson (died 1782). Sir John was a politician.
• Sir Robert Bruce Henderson, 6th Baronet (1762-1833) (Sir John's brother).

Later Owners and Barons

• Anne Isabella Henderson (1782-1844), daughter of Sir John Henderson. She married Admiral Sir Philip Charles Calderwood Durham (1763-1845), a distinguished officer in the Royal Navy.
• George Mercer, later George Mercer Henderson (died 1852).
• Lt.-Gen. Douglas Mercer-Henderson (around 1786-1854) and Susan Arabella Rowley. He was a distinguished officer in the Peninsular War.
• George William Mercer-Henderson (1823-1881) and Alice Primrose.
• Edith Isabella Mercer-Henderson (died 1902) and Hon. Hew Adam Dalrymple Hamilton Haldane-Duncan-Mercer-Henderson (1820-1900).
• Georgiana Wilhelmina Haldane-Duncan-Mercer-Henderson (1867-1937) and Sidney Carr Hobert-Hampden-Mercer-Henderson, 7th Earl of Buckinghamshire (1860-1930).
• John Hampden Mercer-Henderson, 8th Earl of Buckinghamshire (1906-1963).
• James Henderson, an author.
• Sir Nicholas Fairbairn (1933-1995) and Elizabeth MacKay, then Suzanne Mary Wheeler ("Lady Sam") (1942-2002).
• Dr. Lorraine Inglis and William "Bill" Inglis (1918-1999). Bill Inglis was a respected local veterinarian.
• Andrew Berry, a businessman.
• Stuart Simpson and Kelly Cooper Barr. Stuart Simpson is an art collector, and Kelly Cooper Barr is an editor and film producer.

The Castle Grounds

The Fordell Castle estate covers about 210 acres today.

The path to the castle crosses a bridge over a weir, which used to create a lake from the Fordell Burn. This lake has now mostly filled with silt. Many Rhododendron bushes grow around the old lake and along the paths throughout the estate. The castle is surrounded by thick woods, making it hard to see unless you are very close or far away to the south-west.

A large, uneven stone in a field to the west of the drive is said to have been put there after a Scottish victory against an English invasion in 1317.

The "Witch Knowe" (a small hill) on the right of the drive was a place where people accused of witchcraft were burned. The last one was in 1649. The "Gallows-tree" (a tree used for hangings) fell down by 1887.

The castle, garden, and chapel are inside a roughly square area surrounded by a stone wall called a barmkin wall. On the east side, this wall was changed in the 1800s to have castellations (like castle battlements) and a bastion (a projecting part of the wall). The main entrance is on this side, marked by large iron gates and stone pillars with decorative urns on top.

The gardens are designed in an Italianate style by Thomas White, Jr. in 1818. They include a very old Cedar of Lebanon tree, which is believed to have been planted by Sir Robert Henderson in 1721.

The sundial in the garden is a copy from 1860 of an older sundial from 1644 that was originally at Pitreavie Castle. It has a square base on four round balls, supporting a slanted dial. The base has carvings of the Henderson family's coat of arms.

On the west barmkin wall, there is a bell that used to be in the chapel's bell tower. It is said that Sir John Henderson, 5th Baronet, bought this bell for a very high price to get a local leader's vote in an election.

South of the barmkin wall is a natural spring called St Theriot's Well. Old stories say that if you drink its water, your wishes will come true.

St. Thereota's Chapel

About 70 yards south-west of the castle, within the garden, is the mortuary chapel of the Henderson family. It was built on the site of an older chapel dedicated to Saint Therotus, an old and mysterious 8th-century cleric. The first mention of a chapel here was in 1510, but it might be much older.

The current building is rectangular, made of smooth stone, with a slate roof and a belfry (bell tower) at the west end. It has a Renaissance style doorway with the Henderson motto and the date 1650. The windows are in a late Gothic style with decorative tracery and have painted glass from the 1500s onwards.

The chapel was used for public worship at different times. It was renovated in the 1650s and again in the early 2000s. There are grave slabs on the walls and floor, and in a burial vault under the chapel, dating from 1653 to 2002. St. Thereota's Chapel was made a Category A Listed Building in 1972, meaning it is a very important historic building.

Other Interesting Features on the Estate

Close to the castle, you can find the Fordell Day Level. This is like an underground "river" that connects many old coal mines, even from as far away as Cowdenbeath, and helps drain water from them. It used to cause a lot of pollution by releasing water full of iron into nearby streams. However, recent open-cast mining (mining from the surface) and new water treatment systems have greatly improved this problem.

The remains of one of Scotland's oldest railways run about 400 meters east of the castle. The Fordell railway used to carry coal from the Fife coalfields to ships in St David's Bay, which is now part of Dalgety Bay. The original wooden tracks are gone, but you can still see the raised earth (embankments), cut-out paths, and stone bridges. Some of the old carriages and equipment can be seen in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The old entrance path and gates to the east lead to Vantage Farm. This small farm has Scotland's only octagonal doocot (a building for pigeons) and fancy farm buildings, including a clock tower, a worker's cottage, a dairy, and a three-story granary. These farm buildings are now used as homes.

There are also lodges (small houses) at the former main entrances to the estate: North Lodge on the Inverkeithing / Crossgates Road and South Lodge on the Aberdour Road.

Images for kids

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  Fordell Castle

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  Fordell Castle, near Crossgates

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  Fordell Castle, North-West view

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  Fordell Castle, North side, and Barmkin Wall

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  Bastion in the Barmkin Wall

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  The castle gates

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  St. Thereota's Chapel, viewed from top of Fordell Castle

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  Floral clock in the gardens

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  Ancient Cedar, Fordell Castle Gardens

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  Sundial at Fordell Castle

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  St Theriots Well

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  St. Thereota's Chapel, South-West view

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  Interior of St. Thereota's Chapel