Corgarff Castle in Aberdeenshire

Wee Guides to Scotland
Corgarff Castle near Ballater

Goblinshead

130 Inveresk Rd
Musselburgh
EH21 7AY
SCOTLAND

Corgarff Castle consists of a much-altered rectangular 16th-century tower house, white-washed and restored, with later pavilions and star-shaped outworks. The castle was built about 1530 by the Elphinstones, and leased to the Forbes family. It was torched in 1571 by Adam Gordon of Auchindoun, killing Margaret Campbell, wife of Forbes of Towie, and 26 others of her household. The Erskine Earls of Mar acquired the lands in 1626, but the castle was burnt by Jacobites in 1689; then again in 1716, this time by Hanoverians to punish the Earl of Mar for his part in the Jacobite Rising; and for a third time in 1746. In 1748 the government bought Corgarff, remodelled the tower, and used it as a barracks after the Jacobite Risings. It was later used as a base to help stop illicit whisky distilling, but was abandoned in 1831, and placed into the care of the State in 1961. Exhibition: one of the floors houses a restored barrack room. Whisky still.

Directions:	Off A939, 10 miles NW of Ballater, Aberdeenshire.
Ownership:	HS	01975 651460	Ord. Survey Map Ref:	NJ 255086 37
Open:	daily April to September; open weekends only October to March
Key:	P S £	Click Here for explanation of Key and other abreviations

Fax: +44 (0) 131 653 6566 Tel: +44 (0) 131 665 2894
email:goblinshead@sol.co.uk