Tillycairn Castle
Tower House (Medieval)
Site Name Tillycairn Castle
Classification Tower House (Medieval)
Canmore ID 18063
Site Number NJ61SE 1
NGR NJ 66483 11426
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/18063
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Cluny
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Gordon
- Former County Aberdeenshire
Tillycairn, c.1550. Substantial four-storey-and-attic, harled, L-plan country house with rounded angles and fine stair-tower in re-entrant angle topped with bold ashlar caphouse. Angle turrets on strong corbels. Almost hidden from the main road, on an elevated site, this is a most rewarding building, particularly in the massing of windows and turrets on the south front, or the interest inspired by the view into the re-entrant. Although referred to as a 'bantam cock', Tillycairn is one of the central Aberdeenshire chateaux whose sheer scale demands a different response than that required of pocket lairds' houses in remoter parts (such as Auchinachie, Forgue). These are big-league players. Ruinous by 1772; restored, 1980-4, Ian Begg, for David Lumsden, whose last act of restoration was to add some heraldry (cf Monymusk).
Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk
NJ61SE 1 66483 11426
(NJ 6648 1143) Tillycairn Castle (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959)
Tillycairn Castle is a fine example of the L-plan, probably built about 1550. It measures 41 1/2 feet by 37 feet, with a circular staircase tower in the re-entrant. The main building was four storeys high, the wing being one storey higher. Macfarlane (1906-8) records that the castle was ruinous in 1722. In 1921 the building was in good repair despite being used as a hen-house.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; W Macfarlane 1906-8; W D Simpson 1921; W D Simpson 1949.
Tillycairn Castle, as described, illustrated and planned by Simpson (1921; 1949).
Visited by OS (RL) 5 February 1968.
P Yeoman: watching brief for SDD March 1980.
(Newspaper references cited).
NMRS, MS/712/57.
