Udny Castle
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Udny Castle is a
tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...
in the parish of Udny, southwest of the village of
Pitmedden Pitmedden is a rural village in the parish of Udny, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, situated midway between Ellon and Oldmeldrum, and approximately distant from Aberdeen. In addition to local shops, primary school, church, village hall and parks, t ...
and northeast of the hamlet of Udny Green,
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 ...
, in the northeast of Scotland. The area is generally flat but the castle is sited on the highest ground and can be seen for a considerable distance. Its exact construction date is unknown, but its foundations probably date from the late 14th or early 15th century. Additional storeys were added and a later extension, described as a "modern mansion", was incorporated but subsequently demolished. It is a Category A
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


History

Sited on the highest area in a generally flat terrain, the castle can be seen from a considerable distance. The exact construction date is not known but it was probably initially constructed by the Udny family in the 14th or 15th century. The property is first recorded when it is shown on a charter for David II instigated by Ronald of Uldney.
MacGibbon and Ross David MacGibbon (2 April 1831 – 20 February 1902) and Thomas Ross (10 November 1839 – 4 December 1930) were Scottish architects. Their practice, MacGibbon and Ross was established in 1872 and continued until 1914. They are best known today f ...
suggested a construction date of the turn of the 16–17th centuries, but the indentation of the upper floors and thickness of the foundation walls suggest a much earlier date. The main construction work of the keep is believed to have spanned over 100 years and been undertaken by three consecutive
laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...
s; it is reported to have "ruined them all". The Udny family also owned Knockhall Castle and lived there until 1734 when Knockhall was destroyed by fire; they then returned to Udny.
Jamie Fleeman Jamie Fleeman or Fleeming (1713–1778) was better known as "the Laird of Udny's Fool" or "the Laird of Udny's Fule" in the Scots language. Although described as a fool, he had a reputation for his clever, witty repartee and many anecdotal tales ...
, the Laird's fool, was responsible for saving the family papers from being destroyed in the fire. The castle was abandoned sometime around 1775 then repair work was undertaken in 1801. Colonel John Robert Fullerton Udny inherited the estate in 1802. He had been an army officer since 1797 but retired after his marriage to Emily Fitzhugh in 1812. Thereafter he only visited the estate occasionally as his main residence was in London. The couple had one son, John Augustus Udny, but he died a bachelor in 1859. The Colonel's wife died in 1846 after which he had an affair with Ann Allat whom he married on 2 January 1854. However, the couple had a son, John Henry Udny, born out of wedlock on 9 May 1853. A legal case was heard by the House of Lords as to whether John Henry was entitled to inherit the estate as his parents had been unmarried when he was born. The legal arguments describe how the Colonel had wished to do restoration work on the castle but could not afford to do so "owing chiefly to his connection with the turf". The Colonel died in 1861. The House of Lords had decided in favour of John Henry and he inherited the estate as "though illegitimate at his birth, ewas legitimated by the subsequent marriage of his parents". In 1887, it is recorded as owned by John Hay Udny and had been in the family's ownership for several centuries.
Bartizan A bartizan (an alteration of ''bratticing''), also called a guerite, ''garita'', or ''échauguette'', or spelled bartisan, is an overhanging turret projecting from the walls of late-medieval and early-modern fortifications from the early 14th c ...
s were included when an extra storey was added in the 17th century. A mansion house in the baronial style was added in 1874–75 to the design of architect James Maitland Wardrop (of the Wardrop and Anderson company) but was subsequently demolished during the 1960s. Wardrop's son, Hew, was also an architect and undertook some of the decorative work at the castle. He died suddenly of appendicitis while working at the castle on 4 November 1887. In 1964, restoration work was begun on the original
tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, to command and defend strategic points ...
and the mansion house was demolished.
Historic Scotland Historic Scotland () was an executive agency of the Scottish Government, executive agency of the Scottish Office and later the Scottish Government from 1991 to 2015, responsible for safeguarding Scotland's built heritage and promoting its und ...
listed the castle as a Category A
listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
in April 1971.


Architecture

The castle walls are thick and it has an attic keep measuring by . The building exterior is
harl Harling is a roughcast, rough-cast wall finish consisting of lime and aggregate, known for its rough texture. Many castles and other buildings in Scotland and Ulster have walls finished with harling. It is also used on contemporary buildings, w ...
ed and it is five storeys high. Its angle turrets are embellished with
corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a wikt:superincumbent, bearing weight, a type of bracket (architecture), bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in t ...
s, some more decorative than others. Features include an arched entrance and a vaulted basement. The hall extends the full width of the castle and is sited on the first floor accessed by a turnpike stairway. The measurements of the hall are given as being by with a height of to the vault's top. The hall ceiling was given a Jacobean styling during the Victorian era. Some plasterwork added when Wardrop's design work was included remains in the vaulted hall. The fireplace from the castle was removed and is sited in
Maryculter House Maryculter House is a historic house in the village of Maryculter, or Kirkton of Maryculter, in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. History Lying along both banks of the River Dee, the Lands of Culter originally included the ...
,
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 ...
.


References


Citations


Bibliography

* * * * {{refend Castles in Aberdeenshire Category A listed buildings in Aberdeenshire Listed castles in Scotland Tower houses in Scotland