Asloun Castle is a castle, formerly Z-plan, dating from the 16th century, south-west of Alford, in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire (; ) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the Shires of Scotland, historic county of Aberdeenshire (historic), Aberdeenshire, which had substantial ...

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 ...

, of which only one tower remains. It is just east of Castleton of Asloun, and north of the Strow burn.Coventry Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p58 Alternatively it may be known as Asloon Castle. It is designated a protected

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

History

The castle was built by the Calder family, but later came into the possession of the Forbes family. On the night before the

battle of Alford The Battle of Alford was an engagement of the Scotland in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, Scottish Civil War. It took place near the village of Alford, Aberdeenshire, on 2 July 1645. During the battle, the Cavalier, Royalist general James Gra ...

in 1645, the Marquess of Montrose stayed at the castle.

Structure

The tower, which is three storeys high, has an entrance on the south, the principal entrance to the castle. This was the south-east tower of the castle, and it contained a turnpike stair to the first floor. The ground floor of the hall was stone-vaulted. There are round gun loops in the basement of the tower, while there are quirked roll mouldings on openings on upper levels. There appears to have been private accommodation in the upper floor of the tower, access being only from the main castle. This was lit by a large window. There are two recesses for armorial, both now empty, one over the entrance, and the other above a first-floor level slit window.

References

{{Authority control Castles in Aberdeenshire Scheduled monuments in Aberdeenshire Ruins in Aberdeenshire