Archaeology Notes

Event ID 668141

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/668141

NJ52SE 1 59964 24842

(NJ 5996 2483) Castle of Leslie (NR).

OS 6" map, (1959)

Leslie Castle is perhaps the latest example of a fortified house in Scotland. The ruins which now remain were built in 1661 by William Forbes who acquired the property from the widow of the last Leslie owner. The building is L-shaped with a large square stair tower in the angle, on one corner of which is incised FUNDED: JUN: 17: 1661. It was surrounded by a wall and had a draw-bridge and gatehouse, the latter built in 1664.

The moat which surrounds the present building is almost certainly a relic of the ancient fortalice of the Leslies, the first bearing the territorial title being Norman de Lesselyn who submitted to Eward I at Aberdeen in 1296, though the lands were granted to them circa 1171-99. The buildings were pulled down in 1661, according to Laing, although he adds that 'the ruins of the former buildings are conspicuous' at the foot of the gate-house.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; W D Simpson 1949.

Leslie Castle, an unroofed towerhouse with traces of a surrounding moat, generally as described by Simpson (1949). There is no trace of a gate-house or encircling wall.

Re-surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (NKB) 12 September 1967.

Leslie Castle [NR]

(remains of) [NAT]

OS 1:10,000 map, 1973.

(Location cited as NJ 599 248). Leslie Castle (Leslie parish). 16th-17th century tower house built on a low platform 70m EW by 40m, enclosed by a ditch 15m wide, interrupted by a causeway to the S. The earth works almost certainly predate the existing castle. Recent levelling and landscaping apparent.

P Yeoman 1987.

This private house and garden have been restored.

(Newspaper references and additional bibliography cited).

NMRS, MS/712/53.

The probable moated site that preceded the listed Leslie Castle occupies a low-lying position on the floor of the valley of the Gadie Burn, some 250m NE of Leslie parish church (NJ52SE 17). Rectangular on plan, it has been reduced to a low platform measuring about 80m from NNE to SSW by 60m transversely. The enclosing ditch with counterscarp bank recorded (Simpson 1949, 136) in the mid-20th century is no longer visible. It is likely that this ditch was originally designed to be water-filled.

The later castle, begun in 1661 and recently restored, stands on the NW corner of the platform.

Visited by RCAHMS (PC), 22 July 1998.

W D Simpson 1949.

An assessment and evaluation of the area around the castle was undertaken in response to an application for the conversion and extension of a barn to form a dwelling house and garage at Leslie Castle. Although the service trenches associated with the barn conversion are in areas previously disturbed during the castle restoration in the early 1980's some of them clearly cross the line of the earlier moat and may reveal archaeological information. Given the proximity of the new garage to the N wall of the castle and the probability of little previous ground disturbance in this area, it is possible that traces of the moat or other archaeological features exist below the topsoil.

J C Murray July 2002