Beldorney Castle
Beldorney Castle is a residential tower with a Z-shaped floor plan about 2 miles south of the village of Glass in the hills of the Deveron Valley in the Scottish county of Aberdeenshire . The building dates from the middle of the 16th century.
Other names of the castle are Beldornie Castle , Beldornay Castle or Beldorny Castle .
history
The property was owned by members of the Ogilvy , Gordon , Lyon , Buchan and Grant clans .
In 1545 George Gordon bought the land from the Earl of Huntly and had the castle built before his death in 1575. Thus, Beldorney Castle was one of the first residential towers with a Z-shaped floor plan in the northeast of the country. In 1679 two wings were added to the west and the original entrance was replaced. Alexander Gordon acquired the castle in 1713 and had it rebuilt, with the knight's hall on the first floor being divided into several rooms. During this renovation, an interesting mural painting of a woman playing the lute was discovered. The work at that time also included mantels with frames and stucco ceilings .
Thomas Buchan of Auchmacoy bought the Beldorney estate in 1807 from Charles Gordon , the last of the Gordons' lines.
Buchan later sold the castle and estate to Sir William Grant , Master of the Rolls and Member of Parliament for the constituency of Banffshire . After his death, the property fell to his brother, Major John Grant of Dawlish , Devon .
In 1830 the north wing was added. Further restoration work was carried out in 1890, with additional floors being rebuilt under the supervision of the architect Alexander Marshall Mackenzie . Work was carried out again in the early 1980s.
architecture
The main block of the castle lies in a north-south direction. At the north-west corner there is a small tower with a square floor plan, in which the main staircase is built. This tower is called the Dog Tower because it has a roof ornament in the shape of a dog.
At the southeast corner is a large round tower with a rounded gable. The original entrance was in the interior corner with the square tower.
The ground floor, which contains a kitchen and two cellars, is vaulted. From one of the two cellars - the wine cellar - a staircase led up to the knight's hall . Fragments of the ceiling painting of the knight's hall have been preserved to this day. It seems that there was also a hall on the 2nd floor, as well as a tower room. A wall staircase leads through a tourelle in the inner corner of the south gable. It provides access to the room on the 2nd floor and the guard room on the 3rd floor.
The two wings to the west, dating from 1679, enclose an inner courtyard, which is reached through an arched entrance with the initials of John and Anne Gordon and the date on the inside. There you can find details from the Renaissance , a semicircular tympanum over an entablature with spherical roof decorations. The south wing is only one story high.
The new entrance, which is decorated with a keel-arched panel with a winged angel's head, is in the middle of the west facade.
Historic Scotland has listed Beldorney Castle as a Category A Historic Building.
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. 78.
- ↑ a b Beldorney Castle . In: Canmore . Retrieved March 8, 2017.
- ↑ Beldorney Castle . In: Gazetteer for Scotland . Retrieved March 8, 2017.
- ↑ a b c Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
Coordinates: 57 ° 24 '58 " N , 2 ° 57' 7.9" W.