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Ravenscraig Castle
Tower House (Medieval)
Site Name Ravenscraig Castle
Classification Tower House (Medieval)
Alternative Name(s) Craig Of Inverugie Castle
Canmore ID 20992
Site Number NK04NE 1
NGR NK 09550 48776
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/20992
![Engraving of Ravenscraig Castle. Titled 'ADC. Ravens-craig. In Aberdeenshire, situated on the water of Uggie, near Peterhead, was a Castle of great strength; the river, which is of considerable depth, washes the walls on the north side. It was likewise defended by a ditch and a draw-bridge in the front. The walls are of great thickness, in which are several small apartments, with loop holes. There is no tradition as to the time when it was built, nor by whom. It appears from an old manuscript account of the Marischal family, that Sir Edward Keith, the 15th in descent from him who flew Camus, the Danish general, at the battle of Barry, in Angus, in the reign of King David Bruce, obtained, by marriage with Lady Isabella Keith, the whole parish of Peterhead, in which this Castle lies.' [Adam de Cardonnel, "Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland," 1788.]](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/l/DP00098168.jpg)
![Engraving of Ravenscraig Castle. Titled 'ADC. Ravens-craig. In Aberdeenshire, situated on the water of Uggie, near Peterhead, was a Castle of great strength; the river, which is of considerable depth, washes the walls on the north side. It was likewise defended by a ditch and a draw-bridge in the front. The walls are of great thickness, in which are several small apartments, with loop holes. There is no tradition as to the time when it was built, nor by whom. It appears from an old manuscript account of the Marischal family, that Sir Edward Keith, the 15th in descent from him who flew Camus, the Danish general, at the battle of Barry, in Angus, in the reign of King David Bruce, obtained, by marriage with Lady Isabella Keith, the whole parish of Peterhead, in which this Castle lies.' [Adam de Cardonnel, "Picturesque Antiquities of Scotland," 1788.]](http://i.rcahms.gov.uk/canmore/s/DP00098168.jpg)
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Peterhead
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Banff And Buchan
- Former County Aberdeenshire
NK04NE 1 09550 48776
(NK 0954 4876) Ravenscraig Castle (NR)
OS 6" map, (1959).
Ravenscraig Castle, previously 'the Craig of Inverugie', is a ruined L-shaped tower-house, for which a licence was granted in May 1491 (W D Simpson 1940). It is situated on the precipitous banks of the Ugie, defended by a moat, and measures 83 feet E-W and 73 feet N-S, with walls 9-11 feet thick. On the inner edge of the moat there is a wall of large stones, and across the moat are three transverse dykes. Outside it, the ground is broken up into rocky ravines, on the ridges of which are traces of mounds and earthworks evidently for defence.
D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887-92; W D Simpson 1940.
Ravenscraig Castle, a large tower-house surviving to a maximum height of c.12.0m. The footings of a curtain wall, c.1.8m thick and 0.3m maximum height, are traceable to the S and E of the tower on the inner lip of the rock-cut moat. No buildings remain within the barmekin. Only two of the transverse stone-built dykes across the moat can be seen, but an entrance causeway on the S side is probably what is referred to as the third.
The broken ground to the W of the moat, described by MacGibbon and Ross, may be defensive, but it seems more likely to be surface quarrying, possibly contemporary with the castle.
Surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (NKB) 18 December 1968.
Air photographs: AAS/94/07/G17/1-2 and 4-6.
NMRS, MS/712/21.
