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Fetteresso Castle is a 14th-century tower house, rebuilt in 1761 as a Scottish Gothic style Palladian manor, with clear evidence of prehistoric use of the site. It is situated immediately west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire, slightly to the west of the A90 dual carriageway. Other notable historic fortified houses or castles in this region are Dunnottar Castle, Muchalls Castle, Fiddes Castle, Cowie Castle and Monboddo House.
From cropmarks in the "policies" (improved areas) around Fetteresso Castle, there is evidence of a ring ditch sited at the north end of a cursus. A cursus is a prehistoric set of parallel linear structures of unknown purpose that were, somewhat fancifully, considered by antiquarians as used for some type of athletic competition, possibly related to hunting or archery; this is unsubstantiated. In 1822 a cairn was discovered near Fetteresso Castle with some human remains inside. The size and shape of the chamber made of unhewn whinstone clearly show that the burial site was a Bronze Age construct. Some legends say that this is the grave of Malcolm I, who is recorded to have been slain at Fetteresso in AD 954. The burial hillock has become known as Malcolm's Mount, even though it is not likely from current archaeological analysis that the crypt could be so recent. In 1998 a burial urn from the Beaker people was found at Fetteresso Castle. The Roman Camp of Raedykes is located several miles north-west, where a full legion encamped and many archaeological recoveries have been made. This location is one of a string of marching camps that connected Angus to Moray.
The property is recorded to have been owned by the Strachans.
Robert de Bruce opposed the Balliol (and later the Comyn) claim to the throne of Scotland, which culminated at the Battle of Barra Hill (1308). Castlehill of Strachan was in fact burned out by Robert de Bruce, and the Barony of Strachan later disinherited from the de Strachan family and granted by Robert de Bruce to Sir Alexander Fraser in c. 1316 (Robertson Index, 1-15). The Strachan family were supporters and kinsmen of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan.
The barony of Fetteresso eventually passed to William Keith, the Earl Marischal of Scotland, who inherited the barony through his mother, the daughter of Sir Alexander Fraser in the 14th century to[ clarification needed ] the Clan Keith Earls Marischal, who built the tower house. The Earls Marischal also held the nearby fortress, Dunnottar Castle.
The characteristic Scottish designs of crow-stepped gables and the battlement crenellation elements were introduced. A dovecote of considerable height was constructed in the 17th century to the south of the castle. In 1659 Jean Hunter lived at Fetteresso. She was accused of witchcraft and hanged at her home. An artist and wright named Alexander Charles worked at Fetteresso as an overseer. Charles flourished from 1671 to 1678 and published his drawings in at least one book. Late in the 17th century, the Duff family controlled Fetteresso and expanded the building around the old tower house.
In the 1940s, the castle was owned by Maurice Simpson and Geraldine Simpson (née Pringle). She was the heiress to the Pringle knitware fortune. Subsequently, the Simpsons acquired and lived in nearby Muchalls Castle. After the Simpsons' tenure at Fetteresso, the roof was off the castle for some period starting around 1954, and the castle was bought by a local landowner and then left to the Don family in his will. In the latter part of the 20th century, the castle was restored, greatly modified, to yield seven houses, which is its present use. Ms Simpson continued to reside in the local area until her death in 2010.
Settlements and places of interest in Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire | ||
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Stonehaven is a town in Scotland. It lies on Scotland's northeast coast and had a population of 11,602 at the 2011 Census. After the demise of the town of Kincardine, which was gradually abandoned after the destruction of its royal castle in the Wars of Independence, the Scottish Parliament made Stonehaven the successor county town of Kincardineshire. It is currently administered as part of the Aberdeenshire Council Area. Stonehaven had grown around an Iron Age fishing village, now the "Auld Toon", and expanded inland from the seaside. As late as the 16th century, old maps indicate the town was called Stonehyve, Stonehive, Timothy Pont also adding the alternative Duniness. It is known informally to locals as Stoney.
Kincardineshire, also known as the Mearns, is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area on the coast of northeast Scotland. It is bounded by Aberdeenshire on the north and west, and by Angus on the south.
Dunnottar Castle is a ruined medieval fortress located upon a rocky headland on the north-eastern coast of Scotland, about 2 miles south of Stonehaven. The surviving buildings are largely of the 15th and 16th centuries, but the site is believed to have been fortified in the Early Middle Ages. Dunnottar has played a prominent role in the history of Scotland through to the 18th-century Jacobite risings because of its strategic location and defensive strength.
Clan Keith is a Highland and Lowland Scottish clan, whose Chief historically held the hereditary title of Marischal, then Great Marischal, then Earl Marischal of Scotland.
Kincardine and Mearns is one of six area committees of the Aberdeenshire council area in Scotland. It has a population of 38,506. There are significant natural features in this district including rivers, forests, mountains and bogs.
Muchalls Castle stands overlooking the North Sea in the countryside of Kincardine and Mearns, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The lower course is a well-preserved Romanesque, double-groined 13th-century tower house structure, built by the Frasers of Muchalls. Upon this structure, the 17th-century castle was begun by Alexander Burnett of Leys and completed by his son, Sir Thomas Burnett, 1st Baronet, in 1627. The Burnetts of Leys built the remaining four-storey present-day castle.
Catterline is a coastal village on the North Sea in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is situated about 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Stonehaven; nearby to the north are Dunnottar Castle and Fowlsheugh Nature Reserve. Other noted architectural or historic features in the general area include Fetteresso Castle, Fiddes Castle, Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan and Muchalls Castle.
The Stonehaven Tolbooth is a late 16th-century stone building originally used as a courthouse and a prison in the town of Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Constructed of local Old Red Sandstone, the prison probably attained its greatest note, when three local Episcopalian clergymen were imprisoned for holding services for more than nine people. Lying midway along the old north quay of the Stonehaven Harbour, the present day Tolbooth serves as a local museum with a restaurant on the floor above the ground floor. It is a category A listed building.
Ury House is a large ruined mansion in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, built in the Elizabethan style in 1885 by Sir Alexander Baird, 1st Baronet. It is situated on the north-east coast about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Stonehaven in the former county of Kincardineshire.
Clan Strachan is a Scottish clan originating from the barony of Strachan, in Aberdeenshire. The clan does not have a chief, therefore it is considered by Court of the Lord Lyon and the Stand Council of Scottish Chiefs as an Armigerous clan.
Tewel is a hamlet located approximately two miles west of Stonehaven, Kincardineshire on the Auchenblae Road in Northeast Scotland.
The Causey Mounth is an ancient drovers' road over the coastal fringe of the Grampian Mountains in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. This route was developed as the main highway between Stonehaven and Aberdeen around the 12th century AD and it continued to function as the principal route connecting these two cities until the mid 20th century, when modern highway construction of the A90 road occurred in this area. There are extant paved and usable sections of this road over part of the alignment; however, many parts of the ancient route are no more than footpaths, and in some cases the road has vanished into agricultural fields. Constructed in the Middle Ages, the Causey Mounth was created as an elevated rock causeway to span many of the boggy areas such as the Portlethen Moss. A considerable portion of the alignment of the Causey Mounth is illustrated on the UK Ordnance Survey Map, although a large fraction of the route cannot be navigated by a conventional passenger vehicle.
Cowie Castle is a ruined fortress in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The site lies at the northern end of Stonehaven on the North Sea coast. To the immediate south is the Cowie Bridge crossing of the Cowie Water. Evidence of prehistoric man exists in the vicinity dating to the Iron Age in the form of ring cairns.
The Cowie Water is a river of Scotland.
Crawton is a former fishing community on the southeast Aberdeenshire coast in Scotland, deserted since 1927.
The Fetteresso Forest is a woodland that is principally coniferous situated in the Mounth range of the Grampian Mountains in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The forest has a number of prominent mountain peaks including the Hill of Blacklodge and Craiginour peak. A good overlook for viewing the forest from the north side lies on an unnamed tarmack road which leads north from the Slug Road to the Raedykes Roman site. The Cowie Water flows through and drains much of the forest. To the north of the easternmost part of the forest is the archaeological site Raedykes Roman Camp, as well as Cowton Burn. The Slug Road runs along much of the northeast perimeter of Fetteresso Forest.
Cowie is an historic fishing village in Kincardineshire, Scotland. This village has existed since the Middle Ages, but in current times it is effectively subsumed into the town of Stonehaven. It had an estimated population of 2,720 in 2020.
Bowdun Head is a headland landform on the North Sea coast approximately one kilometre south of Stonehaven, Scotland.(Ordnance Survey, 2004) Slightly to the north is another headland, Downie Point. Somewhat to the south along the coast is Dunnottar Castle on the far side of the bay of Castle Haven. Other historic structures in the general vicinity include the Stonehaven Tolbooth, Fetteresso Castle, the Chapel of St. Mary and St. Nathalan and Muchalls Castle. There is considerable prehistory associated with the local area including a Pictish hill fort on the sea stack of Dunnicaer immediately to the north, and Bronze Age archaeological sites at Fetteresso and Spurryhillock, both somewhat inland of Bowdun Head.
Craiglethy is a small island/skerry off Fowlsheugh on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland in the North Sea. As it is part of Fowlsheugh, it is an SSSI, with many seabirds and seals living on it. It is also one of the few islands on the east coast of Scotland, along with Mugdrum Island and Inchcape, apart from the Islands of the Forth.
Dunnottar Parish Church is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, serving Stonehaven in the south of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is within the Church of Scotland's Presbytery of Kincardine and Deeside. During 2020, the congregation united to the South Parish Church in Stonehaven to form Carronside Church of Scotland. On 3 June 2021, the Rev. Sarah Smith was inducted into the charge.