Findlater Castle is the old seat of the

Earls of Findlater Earl of Seafield is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1701 for James Ogilvie, who in 1711 succeeded his father as 4th Earl of Findlater. The earldoms of Findlater and Seafield continued to be united until 1811, when the earl ...

and Seafield, sitting on a -high cliff overlooking the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; , or ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncans ...

on the coast of

Banff and Buchan Banff and Buchan is a committee area of the Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland, covering an area along the northern coast of the council area. The main towns are Banff and Fraserburgh. Fishing and agriculture are important industries, together with ...

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 ...

Location and etymology

It lies about west of Banff, near the village of

Sandend Sandend () is a small fishing village near Banff and Portsoy, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, typical of the area. It was "a considerable seatown as early as 1624". In the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was an active village. There were two fis ...

, between Cullen and

Portsoy Portsoy () is a small town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Historically, Portsoy was in Banffshire until 1975. The original name may come from ''Port Saoithe'', meaning "saithe harbour". Portsoy is located on the Moray Firth coast of northeast Scotl ...

. The cliffs here contain

quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The Atom, atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen Tetrahedral molecular geometry, tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tet ...

; the name "Findlater" is derived from the

Scots Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongside both Irish and Manx, developed ou ...

words ''fionn'' ("white") and ''leitir'' ("cliff or steep slope").

History

The first historical reference to the castle is from 1246. King Alexander III of Scotland repaired this castle in the 1260s in preparation for an invasion by

King Haakon IV Haakon IV Haakonsson ( – 16 December 1263; ; ), sometimes called Haakon the Old in contrast to his namesake son, was King of Norway from 1217 to 1263. His reign lasted for 46 years, longer than any Norwegian king since Harald Fairhair. Haako ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The Norwegians took and held the castle for some time. The castle remains that are still there are from the 14th-century rebuilding, when the castle was redesigned based on the Roslyn Castle model. Walter Ogilvy obtained a licence to repair and rebuild the castle from

James II of Scotland James II (16 October 1430 – 3 August 1460) was King of Scots from 1437 until his death in 1460. The eldest surviving son of James I of Scotland, he succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of six, following the assassination of his fathe ...

in February 1445.

James V of Scotland James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

visited Findlater in November 1535 after a pilgrimage to Tain. James Ogilvy, Laird of Findlater, was Master of Household to

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French people, French noblewoman of the ...

and

Mary, Queen of Scots Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was List of Scottish monarchs, Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567. The only surviving legit ...

. He lost his inheritance to John Gordon, a son of the

Earl of Huntly Marquess of Huntly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland that was created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles; only the English ma ...

, after making a plan to imprison his father in a cellar to deprive him of sleep and drive him insane to obtain his lands. After his father's death his mother married John Gordon, who then took possession of the castle and lands, and promptly imprisoned her. John Gordon fought with James Ogilvy and Lord Ogilvy in July 1562 and injured Lord Ogilvie's arm. Gordon was imprisoned in Edinburgh until his victim healed, according to custom. In September 1562,

sent an army equipped with artillery from

Dunbar Castle Dunbar Castle was one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the Dunbar Harbour, harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. Several fortifications were built successively on the site, near th ...

to besiege Findlater, and eject John Gordon. When Mary was nearby on 20 September, she had sent her trumpeter messenger to deliver the castle to the captain of her guard, but he was refused. In October 1562, the Earl of Huntly sent Mary the keys of Findlater and

Auchindoun Auchindoun Castle is a 15th-century L-Plan tower castle located in Auchindoun near Dufftown in Moray, Scotland. History While there is evidence of prehistoric or Pictish earthworks in the grounds of the castle, the remains most visible today ...

, but she was suspicious of the low status of the messenger. Huntly was defeated at the

battle of Corrichie The Battle of Corrichie was fought on the slopes of the Hill of Fare in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, on 28 October 1562. It was fought between the forces of George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, chief of Clan Gordon, and the forces of Mary, Queen of ...

and John Gordon was executed.Joseph Bain, ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 658

James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Findlater James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Findlater (1592–1652), known as Lord Ogilvy of Deskford until 1638, was a Scottish nobleman and Royalist supporter. G.E. Cokayne; et al: ''The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United ...

, was given the earldom in 1638. He built the nearby

Cullen House Cullen House is a large house, about south-west of the coastal town of Cullen, Moray, Cullen in Moray, Scotland. It was the Family seat, seat of the Clan Ogilvy, Ogilvies of Findlater, who went on to become the Earl of Seafield, Earls of Fin ...

to take the place of the castle as the family seat and by the time he died in 1653 it was little used and in decline.

References

External links

Official websiteTake a 360 Virtual Tour of Findlater Castle
{{Banff and Buchan, Aberdeenshire places, state = collapsed Castles in Aberdeenshire Scheduled monuments in Aberdeenshire Banff and Buchan