Towie Barclay Castle
| Towie Barclay Castle | ||
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 Towie Barclay Castle 2002 |
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| Creation time : | 1593 | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | restored | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Plastered, with corner stones | |
| Place: | Turriff | |
| Geographical location | 57 ° 29 '6 " N , 2 ° 25' 40.8" W | |
| Height: | 61 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Towie Barclay Castle is a low castle about 7.2 km south-southeast of the town of Turriff in the Scottish county of Aberdeenshire . The current building was built by the Barclay clan in 1593. The clan had the site in the 11th century from King Malcolm III. receive. After the Barclays sacked a nunnery in the 12th century, Thomas the Rhymer proclaimed : "Towie Barclay Castle in the valley / good for women / but never for men", which was understood as a curse for the male line. Belief in this curse was strong enough that it was found in 1753 by Mr. Barclay Maitlandas the reason given for the sale of Towie Barclay Castle to the Earl of Findlater . He sold the castle to Gordon's Hospital in Aberdeen in 1792 after he said that it attracted evil and after his son had also died .
The building was sold to the directors of Gordon's Hospital for £ 21,000. Although the castle got a new roof in 1874, it fell into disrepair by the middle of the 20th century.
19th century description and history
David McGibbon and Thomas Ross created an excellent description of the castle for volume 2 of their book The Castallated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century :
“This interesting house is located in the southern part of the parish of Turriff and not far from the Auchterless train station.
The Tollie de Berkeley family who own it are very old and the following inscription on a stone in the wall of the house gives the impression that the castle is also very old: «Sir Alexander Barclay of Tolly, founder, died in the year of Lord 1186. » On the same stone there is another inscription: "In the time of Valth all men seemed friendly and one only meets friends in trouble, 1593".
There is no doubt that the first part of the above-mentioned inscription is just a record of what happened a long time ago and was instituted in the latter year, 1593. In 1792 the turrets and loopholes were removed, the height of the donjon was reduced by two stories and the moat was filled.
The family suffered from the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots . From 1558 to 1624 the property was in the hands of Patrick Barclay, author of the moral reflection mentioned above - the result of an unfortunate experience.
The layout of this castle is a slight change from the simple donjon with a square layout; a small break in the wall was then made at the entrance door. This creates space for a corridor to the stairwell and enables a loopholes from which the entrance can be monitored. The entrance to the loopholes is protected on the inside by a stone pillar, which is placed in such a way that it gives the defender a view, but at the same time stops projectiles from outside.
The ground floor is completely vaulted and the small entrance lobby is decorated with ribbed and crossed vaults . The latter detail seems to be a local variant. A similar loopholes at the entrance and a cross vault in the entrance lobby are in gight and a ribbed vault at the original entrance, which is still preserved in Delgaty.
As usual, the first floor contains cellars with small loopholes; a basement has a private staircase to the great hall .
The main staircase, which leads to the first floor, is partly straight with a spiral around the corner of the tower and a large landing on the door to the knight's hall. The knight's hall is in the usual shape, but much more decorative than in other castles. It is 30 feet by 20 feet and arched in two rows with ribbed and cross vaults that arise from brackets with foliage. There is also a small, beautifully designed and arched long gallery within the wall above the door to the great hall with a wide opening to it. The gallery has a ribbed vault and the centers are carved with the monogram IHS and the heart and pierced hands of our Savior. The consoles, from which the vault ribs arise, have shields with the emblems of the four evangelists. There are recessed niches for statues on both sides of the opening to the knight's hall. Everything seems to indicate that this gallery was once a prayer room or a chapel. It is accessed via a small staircase from the floor above, so that the baron and his family could use it privately, or it can be opened by moving a curtain to the knight's hall if all those gathered there should witness the service.
Billings' view of the interior of the castle gives a good idea of the details, all of which seem to indicate that it was designed by someone familiar with church architecture. Cross vaults of this type are rare in Scottish castles, but there is another example of this at Balbegno Castle near Fettercairn , which dates from the same period. The knights' hall of Auchendoun was also provided with the same type of vault, but dates from an earlier period. From the ecclesiastical details of the building, Mr. Billings concludes that it is at least a century older than the carved year of construction (1593). But because of the similarity of the vault in Balbegno , which dates back to 1569, the similarities in the floor plans and the small, ribbed vault in the entrance area, which Towie Barclay Castle has with castles such as Gight Castle and Delgaty Castle , we can without hesitation it to the middle of the 16th Date to the century. At Edzell Castle one can also find ribbed and cross vaults in the pleasure house together with details that clearly date from the second half of the 16th century.
There is a small, private room above the entrance lobby. As already mentioned, the upper floors were changed or removed. "
restoration
In the 1970s, the musician Marc Ellington and his wife Karen bought the castle. A restoration program was funded by Ellington's music career while his wife projected the extensive restoration work that lasted over seven years. While the lower floor contains masonry from the 16th century, the upper floors are modern reconstructions. The quality of the restoration work was so high that it received the Saltire Society Award in 1973 . The castle is still owned by the Ellington family (2008) . In addition to Towie Barclay Castle, the Ellingtons also own Gardenstoun and Crovie .
Individual evidence
- ^ David McGibbon, Thomas Ross: The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century . D. Douglas. 1887. Retrieved February 14, 2018.
