Harthill Castle facts for kids
Harthill Castle is a cool old castle in Scotland. It's a big building from the 1600s. You can find it about 5.5 miles northwest of a town called Inverurie in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Sometimes people also call it Torries Castle. It's a special type of castle known as a Z-plan castle because of its unique Z-shape.
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Quick facts for kids Harthill Castle |
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 Harthill Castle
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| Coordinates | 57°18′56″N 2°31′17″W / 57.3156°N 2.5214°W |
| Site history | |
| Built | by 15th century |
Castle's Story
The Leith family owned Harthill Castle starting in 1531. They probably built the castle, maybe around 1601 or 1638.
One member of the family, Patrick Leith, fought alongside a famous leader named James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose. Patrick was later captured and killed by another leader, John Middleton, 1st Earl of Middleton.
It's believed that the last Leith family member to live at Harthill deliberately set the castle on fire. This might have been to stop enemies from using it.
After the Leiths, the Erskine family from Pittodrie took over the property.
For a long time, the castle was just an empty shell with no roof. But in the 1970s, it was carefully rebuilt and restored. The work finished in 1978, and people live there today!
What the Castle Looks Like
Harthill Castle has a main building that is four storeys tall, plus an attic space called a garret.
It has two towers on opposite corners. One tower is square, and the other is round. The castle walls have small openings called gunloops. These were used for shooting guns to defend the castle.
At the corners of the towers, there are small, round turrets called bartizans. These were like little lookout points.
Outside Features
Some parts of the old gatehouse and the courtyard wall are still there. They have been built into a newer wall. The main entrance to the castle is in a special corner where two parts of the building meet.
Inside the Castle
The basement of the castle has a vaulted ceiling, which means it's curved like an arch. This area used to have a guardroom.
A spiral staircase, called a turnpike stair, goes up from the basement of the square tower. There were also other stairs leading from the kitchen and the wine cellar up to the main room, called the hall, on the first floor. The round tower has a cellar with a dome-shaped ceiling.
The hall was a very nice room. It had stone seats built into the walls and a large fireplace to keep everyone warm. More spiral staircases hidden inside the thick walls led to private rooms above and in the towers.
There is also a small walkway on top of the wall, which would have been used for defense or patrols.
