Dundarg Castle is a ruined castle about north-northeast of New Aberdour,

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area incl ...

, Scotland, built within the ramparts of an earlier

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

promontory fort A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...

. It was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the

nine castles of the Knuckle The nine castles of the Knuckle are a group of ancient castles found in Aberdeenshire in the Buchan area of Scotland. The term was used by historian William Douglas Simpson, who described the promontory between the Moray Firth and the North Sea a ...

, referring to the rocky headland of North-East Aberdeenshire, and by

Charles McKean Charles McKean FRSE FRSA FRHistS FRIBA (16 July 1946 – 29 September 2013) was a Scottish historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the ...

as "Scotland's answer to

Tintagel Tintagel () or Trevena ( kw, Tre war Venydh, meaning ''Village on a Mountain'') is a civil parish and village situated on the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England. The village and nearby Tintagel Castle are associated with the legends surroundi ...

". It became a small Celtic

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

for a period.

Structure

The site consists of a triangle of gently sloping ground flanked by steep slopes on all sides, linked to a flat-topped elongated

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the soft ...

extending to the north-east, surrounded by high sandstone cliffs. Its name comes from the Gaelic ''dun dearg'', meaning red fort or castle, referring to the colour of the sandstone.

History

The 6th-century

Book of Deer The ''Book of Deer'' (''Leabhar Dhèir'' in Gaelic) (Cambridge University Library, MS. Ii.6.32) is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It contains the earliest survivin ...

records the existence of a ''cathair'' or fortified place at Aberdour. It was built in the 13th century by the Comyn family, but was dismantled, probably by

Robert the Bruce Robert I (11 July 1274 – 7 June 1329), popularly known as Robert the Bruce (Scottish Gaelic: ''Raibeart an Bruis''), was King of Scots from 1306 to his death in 1329. One of the most renowned warriors of his generation, Robert eventuall ...

, in 1308. It was rebuilt in 1334 by

Henry de Beaumont Henry de Beaumont (before 1280 – 10 March 1340), ''jure uxoris'' 4th Earl of Buchan and ''suo jure'' 1st Baron Beaumont, was a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Inde ...

, but

slighted Slighting is the deliberate damage of high-status buildings to reduce their value as military, administrative or social structures. This destruction of property sometimes extended to the contents of buildings and the surrounding landscape. It is ...

almost immediately, after a famous siege by

Sir Andrew Moray ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English language, English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist i ...

. Many

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

objects providing evidence of this double destruction were found in excavations in 1911-12 and 1950-51, led by W. Douglas Simpson. The only substantial part of the castle remaining is the inner gatehouse, which survives to a height of about . The upper part was rebuilt in the middle of the 16th century, probably following the Coastal Defence Commission of 1550, and there is some evidence that it was provided with gunloops at that time. The site was finally abandoned in the mid-17th century. A house was built on part of the site in 1938, reputedly by and for Wing Commander David Vaughan Carnegie, using stone from the former Aberdour Free Church. The castle and promontory fort are protected as a

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 and d ...

, while the modern house is a category B

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

References

Bibliography

* * * * * Simpson, W. D. (1954) ''Dundarg Castle''. Aberdeen University. * Simpson, W. D. (1960) 'Dundarg Castle reconsidered', ''Transactions of the Buchan Field Club'' 17(4), pp. 9–25. {{coord, 57, 40, 26.59, N, 2, 10, 39.03, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title History of Aberdeenshire Castles in Aberdeenshire Promontory forts in Scotland Former castles in Scotland Category B listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Listed houses in Scotland Ruined castles in Aberdeenshire Former Christian monasteries in Scotland Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Aberdeenshire Clan Comyn