Pitellachie, 'castle'

NJ40NW 23 4188 0623

(Location cited as NJ 4190 0637). Alleged locally to be a castle, this is apparently merely the footings of a rectangular building, although of some age, measuring externally 21.5m by 6.0m with walls 0.7m thick.

Visted by OS 4 September 1968.

(Name cited as Balronald).

NMRS, MS/712/44.

One unroofed building and two enclosures are depicted on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire 1870, sheet lxx). One unroofed building is shown on the current edition of the OS 1:10000 map (1972).

Information from RCAHMS (AKK) 29 June 1999.

(Location amended to NJ 4188 0623). The remains of a substantial rectangular building, measuring 22.2m from NE to SW by 6.5m transversely over mortar-bonded walls up to 1m in height and 0.8m in thickness, lie within an arable field 400m NW of Pitellachie farmsteading (NJ40NW 29). The masonry is of coursed rubble and there is no evidence for the position of either an entrance or windows. The interior is choked with wall tumble and field-cleared stones, and several ash trees have invaded the site.

The structure is depicted unroofed on the 1st edition of the OS 6-inch map (Aberdeenshire, 1870, sheet lxx), which illustrates how it was formerly integrated amongst the small enclosures connected with the farmstead of Old Pitellachie (NJ40NW 28). However, on the 2nd edition of the map (1902, sheet lxx.SW) it is shown as an isolated, rectangular structure linked only to a short length of a boundary at its NE corner, a representation that accords well with that given upon the modern 1:10,000 map (1972), although the boundary has since been removed.

Astor (1971) suggests that the link between the tradition of a castle in the area and this building may be due to both the solidity of its construction and the loss of knowledge as to its history.

Visited by RCAHMS (ATW, SPH), 14 August 1997.

G Astor 1971.