Archaeology Notes

Event ID 855417

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Archaeology Notes

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/855417

NJ72SW 5 73157 23603

(NJ 7315 2361) Castle of Balquhain (NR)

OS 6" map, (1959)

For datestone of 1677 (possibly from the castle) built into (adjacent) Balquhain Mains, see NJ72SW 67.01.

Balquhain Castle: The massive and impressive remains of a quadrangular keep, probably originally of the 15th century, destroyed in 1526 rebuilt in 1530 on much the same lines. The lower parts of the walls, probably original, are extremely thick with deep recesses and narrow loops. The barmkin wall encloses the highest part of a knoll and some of the outbuildings can still be traced.

The castle belonged to the Leslies, Barons of Balquhain, and it was here that Queen Mary spent the night before the Battle of Corrichie in 1562. It was burnt by the Duke of Cumberland in 1746.

D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; W D Simpson 1936.

'Balquhain Castle' (information from Mr I W Strachen, Mains of Balquhain) mainly as described and planned by Simpson (1936).

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (ISS), 16 July 1973.