Allardice Castle (also spelled Allardyce) is a sixteenth-century

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

Kincardineshire Kincardineshire or the County of Kincardine, also known as the Mearns (from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "the stewartry"), is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area on the ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Location

It is approximately 1.5 kilometres north-west of the town of

Inverbervie Inverbervie (), also known simply as Bervie, is a small town on the north-east coast of Scotland, south of Stonehaven, in the Kincardineshire, Mearns. Etymology The name comes from Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic and means "mouth of Bervie Water". Hi ...

. The

Bervie Water Bervie Water () is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland which rises in the Drumtochty Forest and flows across The Mearns to reach the North Sea at Inverbervie. Approximately two kilometres upstream of the North Sea, the Bervie Water flows thro ...

river flows through the grounds, flowing around Allardice Castle on both sides. Allardice may be viewed as one of a chain of

coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

al castles; to the north are

Dunnottar Castle Dunnottar Castle (, "fort on the shelving slope") is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the northeast coast of Scotland, about south of Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th ...

(ruined),

Fetteresso Castle Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightl ...

Cowie Castle Cowie Castle is a ruined fortress in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site lies at the northern end of Stonehaven on the North Sea coast. To the immediate south is the Cowie Bridge crossing of the Cowie Water. Evidence of prehistoric man exists ...

(ruined) and

Muchalls Castle Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers o ...

. The castle is a

category A listed building Category, plural categories, may refer to: General uses *Classification, the general act of allocating things to classes/categories Philosophy * Category of being * ''Categories'' (Aristotle) * Category (Kant) * Categories (Peirce) *Category (V ...

Origins and history

Allardice castle was the chief seat of the Barons of Allardice, an ancient family who first appear in an 1197 charter. The lands belonging to the Allardice estate lie within the parish of Arbuthnott, and lie to the south of the land belonging to the Viscount of Arbuthnott's estate. Since 1542 (the time at which the current L-plan building was built) many alterations and changes have been made to the original structure. As such, the original plan is unrecognisable.

References

External links

Historical Estate Map of the lands of Allardice
Castles in Aberdeenshire Houses in Aberdeenshire Kincardine and Mearns Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Listed castles in Scotland {{scotland-castle-stub