Accessibility

Font Size

100% 150% 200%

Background Colour

Default Contrast
Close Reset

Ellon Castle

Castle (Medieval)

Site Name Ellon Castle

Classification Castle (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Ardgeith Castle; Ardgight Castle; Ellon Castle Estate; Ellon Castle Policies; Fortalice Of Ardgith; Old Castle Of Ellon

Canmore ID 20472

Site Number NJ93SE 29

NGR NJ 95980 30743

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20472

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
Canmore Disclaimer. © Copyright and database right 2024.

Toggle Aerial | View on large map

Digital Images

Administrative Areas

  • Council Aberdeenshire
  • Parish Ellon
  • Former Region Grampian
  • Former District Gordon
  • Former County Aberdeenshire

Recording Your Heritage Online

Ellon Castle (Old), late 16th century; reconstructed, c.1706-15; 1781-5, John Baxter; ruinous post-1801, demolished 1851

Only south wall remains of an impressive and complex château. Baxter retained only the square tower with its circular south-eastern angle-tower as part of a four-storey, U-plan block (130ft by 75ft), open to the east, which had twin three-window bows. West front was seven-windowed with the centre three recessed. Fluted stone pilasters survive of the stairhall at the west end.

Taken from "Aberdeenshire: Donside and Strathbogie - An Illustrated Architectural Guide", by Ian Shepherd, 2006. Published by the Rutland Press http://www.rias.org.uk

Archaeology Notes

NJ93SE 29.00 95980 30743

NJ93SE 29.01 96143 30718 Ellon Castle (New)

NJ93SE 29.02 96089 30576 Deer Park

NJ93SE 29.03 95997 30721 Sundial (terrace)

NJ93SE 29.04 96003 30709 Garden House and Terrace Stairs

NJ93SE 29.05 96000 30647 Walled Garden

NJ93SE 29.06 96000 30669 Sundial (walled garden)

NJ93SE 29.07 95999 30658 Fountain

NJ93SE 29.08 96626 30574 Larachbeg (East Lodge)

NJ93SE 29.09 95637 30760 Gate Piers

(NJ 9600 3071) Ellon Castle (NR).

OS 6" map, (1959).

Ellon Castle stands on the hill of Ardgith and was known as the Fortalice of Ardgith. It was the seat of the Kennedys of Kermuck. The ivy clad remains consist of a lofty four-storeyed building, lying east to west, to the SE angle of which is attached a tall slender round tower, one quarter engaged with the main structure. The tower is complete to the wall head; but only the front, or S elevation, of the main building survives. The SW corner of the main structure forms a projecting elbow in the front beyond which further building is continued westward. This part bears an armorial stone with the date 1635.

The vault in the basement of the main structure is older than everything above. What remains of the jamb and the kitchen fireplace suggests a date from the first half of the fifteenth century. The middle portion of the building evidently represents a reconstruction of the late sixteenth century. The superstructure belongs to alterations of 1781.

It was dismantled in 1851 when the modern castle of Ellon was built, the greater part of the latter being pulled down after 1918.

J Godsman 1958.

Ellon Castle remains as described.

Visited by OS (RL) 12 December 1968.

Ellon, remains of castle and gardens. Air photograph: AAS/97/04/CT.

NMRS, MS/712/29.

Architecture Notes

NMRS REFERENCE:

Mostly demolished in the 1920s and present house built out of the remains. Information from Demolitions catalogue held in RCAHMS library.

Activities

Measured Survey (14 June 2016 - 8 September 2016)

NJ 95980 30743 A historic garden survey was undertaken, 14 June – 8 September 2016, at Ellon Castle Gardens as part of an assessment of the gardens before their restoration by the Ellon Castle Gardens Trust. The gardens, which are a scheduled monument, are situated on a series of three natural terraces above the River Ythan and comprise a lower walled garden, with an upper terrace dominated by the ruins of the old castle, originally built in the 15th century but considerably enlarged in the 18th century, and an area of woodland on a higher terrace.

A detailed survey and photographic recording of all existing and visible elements of the garden was undertaken, with standing building surveys of all structures. Documentary sources, including photographs and paintings of the garden in the 19th century, were incorporated with the survey evidence to allow some understanding of the development of the garden. In addition, a geophysical survey was carried out by Rose Geophysical Consultants; the resistance survey, at 0.5m intervals, covered the walled garden, the upper terrace and a short section of the drive adjacent to the ruins of the old castle. It detected a number of anomalies which may indicate remnants of paths predating the existing 19th-century path layout; it is hoped in the future to examine these anomalies with a series of small test pits.

There is little evidence of the garden before the 18th century but it is probable that there were courts along the middle terrace beside the original castle. Two sundials, considered to be of late 17th-century date, are likely to belong to this period. Between 1706 and 1752, the property was owned by a Baillie James Gordon of Edinburgh and a datestone of 1715 over a doorway into the walled garden has generally been understood to indicate that he created the garden; certainly the stonework of the walls is identical to the stonework of some of the 18th-century additions to the castle. The walled garden had been cut into the terrace below the castle with a garden house which originally contained a stair down from the upper terrace. This 18th-century garden appears to have

been laid out at right angles to the old castle, with its central axis forming the view from the main rooms of the castle and from the garden house. At this time one of the earlier sundials was placed on this central axis, standing on a new 18th-century pillar. Surrounding it were the yews that are a main feature of the garden today.

In 1752 the property was bought by George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen who made further developments to the castle between 1781 and 1787. Accounts for the building works at this period make no mention of any major works in the garden. The garden remained in the Gordon family

until 1918, being very neglected between 1801 and 1845, but redesigned between 1845 and 1873 when Alexander Gordon demolished the old castle, leaving only a romantic ruin that became a focal point in a new garden layout. The new castle, built further along the upper terrace, changed the approach to the garden, with a promenade along the upper terrace past elaborately bedded borders illustrated in both paintings and

photographs of the period. New steps were created to the lower walled garden, with a new layout, focusing on a central fountain among the yews. At this period a whole range of glass houses were constructed, and newspaper accounts of the Ellon Horticultural Society Shows give a fascinating insight into the range of plants being produced by the castle

gardeners. The 19th-century layout was preserved through the 20th century and is the basis of the existing garden.

Archive: NRHE. Report: Aberdeenshire SMR and NRHE

Funder: Ellon Castle Gardens Trust

Hilary and Charlie Murray – Murray Archaeological Services Ltd

(Source: DES)

References

MyCanmore Image Contributions


Contribute an Image

MyCanmore Text Contributions