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Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017237
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017237
Of the many baronial residences of various dates that are to be seen in Grampian, the progenitor may be said to be the mighty Tower of Drum. Seven centuries old, with red granite walls 3.7m thick, it rises 21.5m to its corbelled wall-walk and deep crenellations. In plan it is a simple rectangle, 16.2m by 11.9m, with rounded corners.
It may have been built initially as a royal fortress, commanding the old road running north into the province of Mar from the Clyne Corse Mounth and the ford of Dee at the Mills of Drum. In 1323 king Robert gave the Forest of Drum to his armour-bearer William de Irwin; from then until 1976 the castle was in Irvine hands.
The original, first-floor entrance to the Tower survives, but not the protective barmkin that must have surrounded it. The Laigh Hall on the first floor was converted to a library in the 19th century and is now entered from the 17th century house. (It is still possible to appreciate the soaring medieval proportions of this room despite the distractions of the heraldic decoration of the vault and the bizarre Angel Gabriel self-portrait by Hugh Irvine.)
For a truly medieval experience, however, the visitor should climb the worn turnpike stair from the original Tower entrance to the vast pointed barrel-vaulted cavity above the Laigh Hall Here, with the timber floor of the third storey now gone (but its strong corbels still evident) the traveller can sit on a seven hundred yearold seat by a square open window within the bare, massive walls. In this dim light he can explore the garderobe in the north-west corner, whose channel falls 7.6m down through the wall.
The parapet walk and high merlons at the top of the Tower are uniquely well preserved, although the original tall caphouse has gone. From here one can see the later additions to Drum, principally the mansion house of c 1619. Apart from its notable formal rooms, the lesser quarters are particularly fine, consisting principally the basement kitchen and dairy, which are ranged off a striking stone-flagged corridor that runs the full length of the building. Above stairs, the Green Closet, overlooking the front door, with its 18th century panelling and furniture of a practical elegance preserves much of the feel of life in the times of improvement.
An important additional feature of Drum, one that links back beyond even the days of the Tower, is the fragment of the Old Wood that survives on the property. The enormous oaks and pines that stand at random and the gnarled geans (wild cherry trees) mingling with them are a remnant of the native Caledonian Forest that once cloaked most of the northeast. Something of the primeval atmosphere of that great forest can be gained from a walk in the Old Wood of Drum.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Grampian’, (1986).
