Kincardine Castle (Kincardineshire)

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View of the tree-lined hill

Kincardine Castle was a castle in the Scottish administration unit Aberdeenshire . The county of Kincardineshire is named after her or the upstream, now vanished town of Kincardine . There are also only a few remains of the castle, they have been designated as a Scheduled Monument since 1959 .

location

Kincardine Castle sits on a low hill north of the Howe of the Mearns countryside in south-west Aberdeenshire. The castle was surrounded by a wetland that was only drained at the beginning of the 19th century. The nearest larger towns are Fettercairn , about three kilometers to the southwest and Laurencekirk , six kilometers to the southeast. A road from Edzell Castle ran past the castle to the Cairn O'Mounth Pass in the Grampian Mountains to the north . The use of this route by military units has been proven several times since the 11th century. In the system of partitioning Scotland into parishes , the castle and town belonged to Fordoun ; today they belong to the Community Council Area Mearns .

history

Kincardine Castle was probably built at the beginning of the 13th century, the castle was first mentioned in documents in 1212. Under William the Lion , King from 1165 to 1214, an extensive game reserve was built to the northwest , which under his grandson Alexander III. was expanded again. The small complex was at the center of the hunt, which was also practiced there with falcons ; the presence of Alexander II is documented for 1226 . The English King Edward I passed on August 2, 1296, with his troops coming from the pass, at least past the castle, in which the document was written with which John Balliol in July of the same year in the parish church of ten kilometers southwest Stracathro abdicated. In 1346 it passed to William, Earl of Sutherland . King Robert II was present here again in 1383, after which their traces will be lost. 1475 the castle and part of the game park came to the communities of Strachan of Thornton .

The castle has been linked to the murder of the Scottish King Kenneth II in 995 by a noblewoman named Finella. This would mean the existence of a previous structure, for which, however, there are no archaeological indications so far. Alternatively, Green Castle, one and a half kilometers to the north, could also be considered.

description

Floor plan from 1889

The castle was a square building with an area of ​​about 35 square meters. Structurally, it is classified as a small curtain wall castle , a type of castle dating back to the 12th century that is more likely to be found in the Highlands and the Hebrides . It's rarely found further south, including the original Hume Castle in Berwickshire . The square complex, which was accessed from the south, has two rectangular structures in this area, probably one or two towers. Inside there were also separate rooms along the north and east walls.

Only the remains of the foundation walls of the castle are preserved up to a height of almost two meters. The area immediately surrounding it is lined with trees, there may have been a small rampart here. Structural traces suggest either a drawbridge or an access ramp. A path runs past the castle towards Fettercairn. The village of Kincardine , which has now completely disappeared , extended here, its northern gate was immediately south of the entrance to the castle.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Section Kincardine Castle in Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical , edited by Francis Groome between 1882 and 1885, accessed August 20, 2018
  2. ^ William Douglas Simpson: Edzell Castle. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 65, Edinburgh 1930-31, pp. 115f. Digitized version , PDF file, 6 MB, accessed on August 20, 2018 (English)
  3. ^ A b William Douglas Simpson: The early Castles of Mar. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Vol. 63, Edinburgh 1928-29, pp. 119f. Digitized version , PDF file, 2 MB, accessed on August 20, 2018 (English)
  4. ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
  5. ↑ The History of the Howe - Early Times on a website about Howe of the Mearns, accessed August 20, 2018.
  6. ↑ Entry on Green Castle  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  7. ↑ Stewart Cruden: The Scottish Castle , Edinburgh 1960, p. 51 , accessed on August 20, 2018 (English)

Coordinates: 56 ° 51'58 "  N , 2 ° 32'20"  W.