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Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017210
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017210
The great L-plan tower-house of Crathes is an excellent example of the changes in fortune which certain families achieved during the 16th century through the appropriation of church lands. The Bumett family had been in the Banchory area since the early 14th century, as hereditary keepers of the Forest of Drum, living in a thoroughly medieval style on the dank crannog or lake dwelling at Leys (north-east ofBanchory). The marriage arranged in 1543 between Janet Hamilton, daughter of Canon Hamilton of the abbey of Arbroath, and Alexander Bumett produced a sizeable dowry of church lands which enabled work to begin on a stylish new tower at Crathes.
The work, which took intermittently from 1553 to 1596, was carried out by one of the great Bell family of masons. Each wall face is different, the creamy pink harling rising to a deep corbel-table and a display of turrets, cannon spouts, gablets and chimneys. The south front is perhaps the least satisfactory, bearing as it does a large tliple window to the great hall inserted in the 1870s and a rather fussy clock, placed on a screen wall between two chimneys. Entry is now by the restored Queen Anne wing, beside the original entrance which still preserves its yett.
The vaulted ground floor has kitchens, store and small prison. The high hall on the fIrst floor is an imposing vaulted space with three stone bosses carved with Hamilton cinquefoils and Bumett holly leaves crowning the vault, while the famous Horn of the Leys, traditionally presented by Bruce in 1323, hangs over the fireplace.
Above the hall are four rooms of particular interest Three retain their original late 16th century painted ceilings which, with wall hangings and the dim light given by cruisie lamps and the shuttered and leaded windows, create a true 16th century ambiance. In the Nine Nobles' Room (1599), heroes of the past (Hector, Caesar, Alexander, King David, Joshua, Judas,Maccabeus, King Arthur, Charlemagne and Godfrey de Bouillon, the crusader) are painted in colourfuL even fanciful versions-an all-blue Julius Caesar with broadsword and mitre-in the narrow spaces between the beams of the ceiling. The Green Lady's Room has grotesques and mottoes to add to its legendary ghost, while in the Muses' Room the colours, essentially green, are particularly sombre yet vibrant.
Some excellent furniture characteristic of the late 16th century Aberdeen school of woodworking can also be seen, including two fine chairs in the Nine Nobles' Room and a massive four-poster bed of1594 in the Laird's Bedroom. The wooden ceiling of the spacious Long Gallery at the top of the house is also an important piece of carpentry.
Finally, the eight gardens, set within yew hedges that go back to the early 18th century, are of exceptional appeal.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
