Document record MAB59592 - CASTLE OF LONMAY

Site of castle.

Site of castle. The castle of Lonmay was one of nine castles of the northeast corner of Buchan, possibly dating from the 13th Century, and is remembered only as a name. The site has been extensively quarried, revealing an occasional dressed stone but no trace of a castle. In the 19th Century, before it was effectively destroyed by quarrying, the castle was described as 'an evidently artificial but now much dilapidated ... Mound' which was 'the site of an early manor'. From this it would appear that it may have been a motte. In the 14th Century, Lonmay passed by marriage from the Montforts to the Irvines of Drum, who held it until the 17th Century. Early in the 18th Century, the barony of Lonmay was sold by Colonel Patrick Ogilvie to the Hon. James Fraser. It seems likely that the castle was already in ruins by 1722 when it was described as 'the remains of the old house of Lonmay'. It was largely destroyed by quarrying in the 19th century. The site is now masked by sand dunes. During a site visit in December 2004, a few medieval pottery sherds and a flint blade were recovered from a rabbit scrape on the east side of the site below the castle site which is a distinct raised area. A number of stones are still visible protruding through grass.

ORDNANCE SURVEY, 1871, Ordnance Name Book, No58(1876) 21 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1360.

SIMPSON, W. D., 1949, CAIRNBULG CASTLE, ABERDEENSHIRE, 33 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1682.

BOGDAN, N, 2008, EARLY CASTLES OF ABERDEENSHIRE (Bibliographic reference). SAB3811.

Author unknown, n.d., NSA, (1845) 224 (Bibliographic reference). SAB1269.

Record last edited

Feb 1 2024 2:09PM