Kinnairdy Castle

NJ64NW 1.00 60892 49812

(NJ 6089 4981) Kinnairdy Castle (NR).

OS 6" map, Banffshire, 2nd ed., (1905)

NJ64NW 1.01 NJ 60875 49760 Dovecot

NJ64NW 1.02 NJ 60885 49750 Walled Garden

Non-Guardianship Sites Plan Collection, DC28103- DC28106.

(Undated) information in NMRS.

Kinnairdy Castle was first a motte and bailey, the bailey being formed by what is now the long lawn. A small structure, possibly a tower, occupied the highest point of the motte, and is now encased within the internal masonry of the tower. It was surrounded by a curtain wall with a high arched entrance in the NW corner. The outline of this arch is still seen in the W wall of the tower.

The second stage in development was a six-storey tower with a flat battlemented roof occupying the NW corner of the enclosure and erected about 1420.

In 1725 the two upper storeys of the tower were removed, with the battlements, and crow-stepped gables substituted.

'The Palace', as the building stretching east from the tower is described in 18th century and subsequent title deeds, may date from about 1500, although it may be later. Doorways in the E gable, as well as foundations inside, suggest that it extended eastwards.

The S and E curtain-walls have been demolished and the N curtain has been replaced by a garden wall. The W curtain still exists to a height of about 10ft, and the remains of it can be traced, circling the motte towards the Castleton cottage at the W extremity of the steading.

The massive walling forming the rear portion of the dairy at the W end of the steading, is probably part of the E wall of the Gate House.

T Innes 1939.

Kinnairdy Castle is as described above. Above the door of the low building abutting the E side of the tower is the date of renovation, '1935'.

At NJ 6087 4975 are the ruins of a dovecot, 4.5m square. The interior is lined with brick pigeon-boxes, and the dove-cot may be early-18th century.

Revised at 1/2500.

Visited by OS (WDJ) 16 September 1964.

No change.

Visited by OS (RL) 16 January 1968.