Gight facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Gight |
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 Gight Castle |
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 Gight
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| OS grid reference | NJ825401 |
| Council area | |
| Lieutenancy area | |
| Country | Scotland |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | ELLON |
| Postcode district | AB41 |
| Dialling code | 01651 |
| Police | Grampian |
| Fire | Grampian |
| Ambulance | Scottish |
| EU Parliament | Scotland |
| UK Parliament |
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| Scottish Parliament | |
Gight is the name of an estate in the parish of Fyvie in the Formartine area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is best known as the location of the 16th-century Gight (or Formartine) Castle, ancestral home of Lord Byron.
Gight Castle
Gight castle is about 4 miles (6.4 km) miles east of Fyvie, just north of the River Ythan, and 1 mile (1.6 km) mile south of Cottown.
The castle was built to an L-shaped plan, probably in the 1570s by George Gordon, the second laird. Ranges of outbuildings were built later.
The tower has a vaulted basement, and a turnpike stair at the end of a long passage. There was a hall on the first floor.
George Gordon had no children, and the property passed to his brother, James Gordon of Cairnbannoch and Gight. His son Alexander married Agnes Beaton, daughter of David Beaton, Archbishop of St Andrews. Alexander was killed at Dundee in 1579, and his daughter Elizabeth married George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar in 1590.
It was later occupied by Catherine Gordon Byron, the mother of Lord Byron, but she sold it in 1787 to George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen to pay off her debts. It was then occupied by the Earl's son, George Gordon, Lord Haddo, until the latter's early death in 1791, since when it has been uninhabited. It was designated a scheduled ancient monument in 1965.
It is said that the ruins are haunted by a piper who disappeared while exploring an underground passageway.
The Gight Woods are a protected natural forest.
