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Wardhouse Castle

Coordinates: 57°20′55″N 2°40′41″W / 57.348593°N 2.677951°W / 57.348593; -2.677951
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Wardhouse Castle
Wardhouse Castle is located in Aberdeenshire
Wardhouse Castle
Wardhouse Castle
Coordinates57°20′55″N 2°40′41″W / 57.348593°N 2.677951°W / 57.348593; -2.677951
Site information
OwnerClan Leslie
Conditionruined
Site history
Built13th century
Materialsrubble

Wardhouse Castle was a 13th-century tower house, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Insch, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.[1] The castle was called Weredors, Wardes Castle [2] or simply Wardhouse.[1]

History

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Sir Bartholomew the Fleming owned the property in the 13th century.[2] The castle was in the lands of the John Erskine, Earl of Mar as feudal overlord in 1566, but the rents were used to pay royal trumpeters.[3]

In the 16th century the property belonged to the Leslies; the Gordons acquired it.[1] It was in ruins by 1790, and demolished, along with a neighbouring building, shortly before 1842.[2]

Clan member crest badge - Clan Leslie
Clan member crest badge - Clan Gordon

Structure

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Wardhouse Castle was an enclosure castle. Only ditches and earthworks remain.[1] The building was very tall, with very thick walls which had a few slit windows. The lower storey was arched; the building was reached by a drawbridge. There was a moat.[2] By the late 20th century all that was visible of the site, which had been degraded by ploughing, was a natural oval mound, mainly natural, which measured about 60 metres (200 ft) from south east to north west by 30 metres (98 ft), surrounded by mere traces of a ditch. Other than the north eastern flank the natural profile has been changed. cropmarks showed ditches of an outer line of defence, which have been located by excavation.[2]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Coventry, Martin (1997) The Castles of Scotland. Goblinshead. ISBN 1-899874-10-0 p.323
  2. ^ a b c d e "Wardhouse Castle". Canmore. Retrieved 22 July 2022.
  3. ^ HMC Mar & Kellie, 1 (London, 1904), p. 16.
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