Building record MAB34927 - FINAVON CASTLE

Remains of a Castle.

Remains of a Castle. Probably erected by the Earl of Crawford soon after 1608, and lying to the east of the present Finavon Castle (NO45NE0032), a country house of 1865. The original castle was built on the L-plan, of five storey and a garret but the west wing has been demolished to foundation level before the mid-19th century, when visited by MacGibbon and Ross. Three walls of the tower were still standing to a height of 15m at that time. They also noted the remains of a corbelled angle tower with double shot-holes on the northeast angle and the remains of a courtyard. indicated by portions of walling, some 2m in height, one of which had shot-holes. When visited by the OS in 1958 the foundations of the west wing and courtyard walls had been exposed by an unrecorded excavation, but the whole site was overgrown and the walls were in poor condition. The excavations cleared the courtyard abutting the south wall of the tower, which measuring 11.5m x 4.5m within a wall which now appears mainly as an earthen bank, but appears to be 2.0m broad and 0.2m high. Within the courtyard, a stone-built well had been exposed. One metre west of the south wall of the courtyard, and in a straight line with its outer limit, is a fragment of the face of a wall 7.5m long and 0.3m high, whose purpose is uncertain. Tranter records that, by the 1960s, only two walls were complete to the wallhead, the remains of a corbelled turret, probably a stair turret, exist at wallhead height within the re-entrant angle. The north front has unusually, no apertures, but it has a large chimney stack on the crow-stepped gable. The east front has four large windows, set one above the other and this has weakened the structure and it is badly riven. The masonry coursed red sandstone with gunloops. The basement is vaulted, with its oak studded door still intact in 1960s but all other floors had collapsed. Tranter speculates that parts of the castle may be older, since he views the gun-loops as 15th century and the Lindsays held Finavon from 1375-1629, when they settled on Edzell as their favoured seat. Finavon was then owned by a succession of noble families. On the 1st edition OS map a small farmstead of four buildings is shown to the north-west of the castle.

Period Notes
Probably erected by the Earl of Crawford soon after 1608, and lying to the east of the present Finavon Castle, a country house of 1865.

AN/6940 (1983), AN/6940 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB21487.

AN/6941 (1983), AN/6941 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB21488.

AN/6942 (1983), AN/6942 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB23842.

AN/6943 (1983), AN/6943 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB21489.

AN/6944 (1983), AN/6944 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB21490.

AN/6945 (1983), AN/6945 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB21491.

AN/6946 (1983), AN/6946 (1983) (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB23843.

MacGibbon and Ross, D and T, 1887-92, [Untitled], Vol. 3, 594-6 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6107.

Simpson, W D, 1956, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 89, 398-416 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9948.

TRNATER, N, 1962, FORTIFIED HOUSE IN SCOTLAND VOL4-ABERDEENSHIRE, 119-120 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1917.

RCAHMS, 1984, [Untitled], 14, No. 60 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9360.

PSAS, 1987, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 115, 449, No. 8 (Bibliographic reference). SAB9070.

Record last edited

Sep 7 2023 11:37AM