Publication Account

Date 1996

Event ID 1016427

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016427

On first approaching Fyvie, the modern visitor may initially be slightly disappointed, arriving as he does in the angle of two lofty wings and confronted with an evidently late, single-storey vestibule, with, to one side, a towering, keep-like structure complete with late Victorian heraldic frontispiece. The composition is unbalanced and the visitor confused.

In understanding Fyvie, the key insight is that it began life as a 13th-century quadrangular castle of enclosure, a great square of c 50m enclosed by a massive curtain wall 2.5m thick with projecting rowers at the corners. Therefore, the visitor standing before William Gordon's vestibule is already in the very centre of the ancient structure, having passed over the now levelled north and east walls.

This becomes clearer on the prospect of the famous south front or 'show facade'. While the upper work on the 50m long front represents one of the finest flowerings of Scottish baronial architecture, the basic structure of projecting angle towers, wing walls and central gatehouse tower with drums is wholly medieval in conception.

Briefly, the early curtain wall, now embedded in the south and west fronts, may have been built in the early 13th century when Fyvie was the caput of the Thanage of Formartine. It remained in royal hands until 1380; 10 years later it passed to Sir Henry Preston who heightened the walls and rebuilt the corner towers. The castle was further enlarged between 1440 and 1500 by the Meldrums, who created the palace-like layout of chambers on the first floor of the west wing (the hall, outer chamber, and inner chamber, now the drawing-room, small drawing-room and charter room). In 1596 the castle was sold to Alexander Seton, first earl of Dunfermline and Chancellor of Scotland. He was probably responsible fo r the elaborate upper works. He certainly created the noble staircase, 4m wide, leading to the main apartments; modelled on the staircase at Chaumont, Fyvie's stair is one of the most impressive of any date in Scotland. His grandson, the fourth earl, around 1686, inserted the door and dramatic red ashlar centrepiece on the south front.

Much was to change as a result of the Jacobite sympathies of the fourth earl. Exiled, his estates were confiscated and passed into Gordon hands. From 1770 to 1840 General William Gordon and his son carried out sweeping changes, the most dramatic being the demolition of the north and east wings, the building of the new vestibule and the Gordon Tower. This last, at the north end of the west wing, was built to provide more spacious chambers such as a ballroom; it blends remarkably well with the earlier work. The policies were also radically improved.

In 1889 the castle was purchased by Alexander Forbes-Leith, a local man who had amassed a fortune in America. With the Gordon alterations and the Forbes-Leith refurbishment, which included the Leith Tower, oriel-bedecked in homage to Huntly (no. 27), the original interior work was mostly removed. There is good late 16th century woodwork in the Charter Room and in the small chamber at the head of the great stairs. Otherwise, interest in the interior focuses on the fine paintings (including more than 12 outstanding Raeburns) and furniture which offer a diverting history of taste; all excellently presented by the Trust.

The influence of the later lairds of Fyvie is seen vividly in the parish kirk, described in the introduction to the next chapter.

Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Aberdeen and North-East Scotland’, (1996).