Barra Castle
Barra Castle is a residential tower about 3 km south of Oldmeldrum on Locher Burn in the parish of Bourtie in the Scottish county of Aberdeenshire . The L-shaped tower dates back to the early 16th century. The site where Barra Castle stands today was the site of the Battle of Barra , in which King Robert the Bruce defeated John Comyn, 7th Earl of Buchan in 1308 .
history
A castle on this site had been the seat of the King family since the mid-13th century .
An earlier castle that existed in association with the hereditary offices of Forester and Coroner of Garioch , a Blackhall , may have been incorporated into the main block and southeast wing, but the current castle largely owes its shape to George Seton , Chancellor of the University of Aberdeen , Tutor and vicar of Meldrum , to whom the property was awarded in 1598. A charter from 1599 to George Seton, tutor of Meldrum, mentions the elevation of the land of Barra to a free barony, whereas a charter from 1615 states that the fortification of Barra should be the main seat of the barony.
James Reid , a lawyer from Aberdeen , owned the property in 1630 and the Reid family kept it until 1754. Lady Margaret Abercrombie , the wife of John Reid , who was appointed baronet in 1703, had parts of the castle renovated; she is probably responsible for the open fireplace in the great hall .
In 1754 John Ramsay of Melrose , a merchant in trade with Russia , bought the castle; he had the north wing added and his descendants still own the property. A Ramsay heiress married Andrew Irvine , one of the Irvines of Drum , in the early 20th century. John Ramsay preferred his property in Straloch and after his death in 1787 the castle was used as a farmhouse. In the first decade of the 20th century, it was restored as a widow's house according to plans by George Bennet Mitchell .
architecture
The floor plan of the residential tower is an unusual variant of the L-shaped floor plan, in which the main block is arranged in a north-south direction. There is a round tower in the southwest. A tower with a D-shaped floor plan in the southeast houses the main staircase and the entrance. This tower, the cross-section of which widens towards the top in a square manner for the guard room, forms the connection to a large, square wing. In its northwest corner, this wing has a second round tower. The entrance to the residential tower is in the main interior corner. The towers have conical roofs.
An 18th century annex runs from the north end of the main block to the east. A wall in the east, through which the entrance gate leads, forms the fourth side of the square courtyard. The buildings around the courtyard are three stories high and made of quarry stone. The main gables are designed as a stepped gable . The wood-paneled drawing room has a large mantelpiece that was added later. The bedroom on the first floor of the south-east wing is furnished with wooden paneling from the early or mid-18th century. There is a wood-paneled living room in the north wing.
The building is a historical category A.
The Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in Glasgow owns a striking stone from Barra Castle.
painting
There are two James Cassie paintings of the interior of the residential tower hanging in the Aberdeen Art Gallery :
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Maurice Lindsay: The Castles of Scotland . Constable, 1986. ISBN 0-09-473430-5 . P. 77.
- ↑ a b Parish of Bourtie . In: Gazetteer for Scotland . Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ^ David MacGibbon, Thomas Ross: The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century . D. Douglas. P. 399. 1887. Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Barra Castle . In: Canmore . Retrieved March 1, 2017.
- ↑ a b Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
Web links
Coordinates: 57 ° 19 '18.8 " N , 2 ° 20' 48" W.