Amy Green Aboyne Castle is a Scottish baronial castle in the village of Aboyne, near Ballater, in Aberdeenshire. The original castle was built by the Frasers of Oliver in around 1240. Built of hard pink sandstone it has a square tower with some round turrets and was surrounded on four sides by a moat which can still be seen today. It passed to the Gordons when Mary Queen of Scots ordered the Earl Marischal George Gordon to move there from nearby Huntly Castle after she had imprisoned him for supporting her Protestant opponents within Scotland.
The original castle was built by the Frasers of Oliver in around 1240. Built of hard pink sandstone it has a square tower with some round turrets and was surrounded on four sides by a moat which can still be seen today. It passed to the Gordons when Mary Queen of Scots ordered the Earl Marischal George Gordon to move there from nearby Huntly Castle after she had imprisoned him for supporting her Protestant opponents within Scotland.
In December 1594 the castle was captured by the Earl of Huntly and his son Lord Gordon who was a personal friend of The Queen. In 1597 Sir George Gordon of Aboyne, who had fought against James VI during the Battle of Glenlivet, was executed. It then passed to the Grants who were in turn dispossessed by George Gordon, 4th Earl of Aboyne in 1616 and it remained in that family’s hands until they sold it to Michel Nivard du Plessis-Bellair who changed his name to Du Plessis-Gordon and was created Baron DuPlessis-Gordon in 1815. The castle was renovated from 1845 by the architect William Burn who also added a three-storeyed, L-plan, extension. His work was continued by Sir Robert Lorimer who employed architects Martin Hardie and Wylson Tait to add a new service wing. The castle is today used as a conference centre and hotel.
If you enjoyed this article you might also like to read about:
