Pittulie Castle facts for kids
Pittulie Castle, also known as Pitullie Castle, is an old stone building in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It's a type of castle called a tower house, which means it's a tall, strong building. Experts believe it was built in the late 1500s.
Pittulie Castle is located about half a mile from Pitsligo Castle, near the town of Rosehearty. A historian named W. Douglas Simpson once called it one of the "nine castles of the Knuckle." This name refers to the rocky coastline in the north-east part of Aberdeenshire, where many old castles stand.
A Look Back in Time
Pittulie Castle might have been built on the spot where an even older castle once stood. It is believed that the current castle was built for a special event: the marriage of Alexander Fraser and Margaret Abernethy of Saltoun in 1596. This marriage was very important because it meant the Fraser family gained the noble title of Saltoun.
Later, another family called the Cumines bought the castle and made it bigger. Towards the end of the 1700s, a person named Sir William Forbes bought Pittulie Castle. However, after he owned it, the castle was left empty and no one lived there anymore.
What the Castle Looks Like
Pittulie Castle is shaped like a long rectangle. It has a square tower at one corner, on the north-east side. You can also see small, low towers called "angle-turrets" on the ends of the roof, facing the south-east and south-west.
The main part of the castle has two floors and an attic space at the very top. The main staircase inside only goes up to the first floor. From the main hall, another staircase with a small tower (a "turreted stair") goes up higher from the front of the castle. There's also another turreted stair that sticks out from the second floor and leads to the very top levels. When it was first built, people would enter the castle from the north side.
Today, Pittulie Castle is a scheduled monument. This means it's a very important historical site that is protected by law.
Images for kids
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Pittulie Castle from the west
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Viewed from the east
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