Building record MAB38971 - BRAIKIE CASTLE

Remains of a castle.

Remains of a castle. Though called 'Brackie Castle' by MacGibbon and Ross, all other authorities consulted give the name as 'Braikie Castle'. It is an excellent example of a later 16th century laird's house, having been built in 1581 the date given on a heraldic panel above the door for Thomas Fraser, a son of the 5th Lord Lovat. The panel has the arms of Fraser impaling Kinnaird, with the initials T.F., C.K. and the date. The castle is tall and L shaped, of four storeys and a garret, with a stair turret rising above first floor level in the re-entrant and a corbelled angle turret, now roofless, at the southwest gable. Features are the tall chimney stack which rises beside the stair turret, and the large number of shotholes, one in the sill of almost every window. The door is in the re entrant, protected by an iron yett and wide splayed gunloops. The main stair rises to only the first floor, access to the upper floors being provided by the stair turret. The ground floor has two vaulted cellars and below the stair, a probable small guardroom. The hall is on the first floor and has a private stair up to the wing above the stairhead, leading to the private chamber of the laird. This stair is built within the thickness of the wall. It is now in a neglected condition. When visited in 1958 by the OS, Braikie Castle was still roofed and entire, though it was unoccupied and the walls beginning to crumble.

Period Notes
Armorial panel dated 1581.

AN/4386-90, AN/4386-90 (Air-oblique Photograph). SAB22554.

MacGibbon and Ross, D and T, 1887-92, [Untitled], Vol. 2, 74-7 (Bibliographic reference). SAB6123.

TRNATER, N, 1962, FORTIFIED HOUSE IN SCOTLAND VOL4-ABERDEENSHIRE, Vol. 4, 99-100 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1917.

RCAHMS, 1978, [Untitled], 30, no. 256 (Bibliographic reference). SAB7817.

Record last edited

Jul 29 2020 12:10PM