Corse Castle near Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, now ruined, was a fortress and centre of a landed estate in the north-east of Scotland. The present castle dates from the 16th century and stands by the Corse Burn, around 3 miles (5 kilometres) north-west of Lumphanan.
Corse was a property of the Forbes family. In the 16th century, the original house on the site was destroyed by bandits in a raid. The laird of the day, Sir William Forbes, is reputed to have said of his projected new castle "Please God I will build me such a house as thieves will need to knock at ere they enter."[1] He went on to erect the present castle, which bears his initials, with the date 1581.[2]
William Forbes had seven sons, of whom the eldest, Patrick (1564–1635), was born at the castle before the rebuilding. In 1618 he was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen, serving until his death. The second son, William, a merchant, bought the nearby Craigievar Castle in 1610 and completed it in 1626. The third son, John Forbes (c. 1565–1634) also entered the church. The sixth son, Arthur, settled in Ireland and was created a baronet.[3] Patrick's second son, the theologian John Forbes (1593–1648), inherited Corse in 1635 and died there in 1648, having opposed the National Covenant and been exiled for three years.[4] The Corse estate then went to John Forbes' son George and then his grandson, but due to a lack of further heirs it reverted to the Forbeses of Craigievar, descended from his brother William.[5]
This ruinous castle is pleasantly situated in a retired locality about three miles north from Lumphanan Station on the Deeside Railway. The Corse Burn, which runs through the hollow adjoining, has been dammed up, and forms a fine sheet of water to the south of the castle... The property has long belonged to the Forbeses, and the present building was erected in 1581 by William Forbes, the father of Patrick, the well-known Bishop of Aberdeen. The date and his initials are on the lintel of the entrance doorway... The castle, and modern mansion near it, now belong to James Ochoncar Forbes, Esq.[7]
The castle thus became redundant in the mid 19th century, when it was replaced by a new house.[7] On the death of James Ochoncar Forbes in 1900, the estate was inherited by his son John Walter Forbes, who died unmarried in 1912, and then by his younger son Lieutenant Colonel James Ochoncar Forbes (1867—1945), who was a Deputy Lieutenant for Aberdeenshire. His son Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Walter Forbes (1914—1979) also lived on the estate and likewise became a Deputy Lieutenant.[8]
Ground floor plan of Corse Castle
The castle is described by Historic Scotland as "a remarkable survival of the compact 16th century, Scottish Z-plan castle",[2] although W. D. Simpson described it as "an unusual combination of L and Z plans."[9] It has been designated a scheduled ancient monument.[10]
Notes
↑ Deborah Howard, Scottish architecture: Reformation to Restoration, 1560-1660 (1995), p. 50
↑ John Bernard Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage (1865), p. 449
↑ "FORBES, James Ochoncar, Esq., of Corse" in Edward Walford, The County Families of the United Kingdom (1869), p. 370
1 2 David MacGibbon, Thomas Ross, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Century, volume 2 (D. Douglas, 1887), p. 265
Lord Forbes is the senior Lordship of Parliament in the Peerage of Scotland.
Lord Sempill is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in circa 1489 for Sir John Sempill, founder of the collegiate Church of Lochwinnoch. Sempill was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. His grandson, the third Lord, was known as "The Great Lord Sempill". His grandson, the fourth Lord, was Ambassador from King James VI of Scotland to Spain in 1596. The male line failed on the death of his great-grandson, the eighth Lord, in 1684. He was succeeded by his sister Anne, wife of Robert Abercromby, who in 1685 was created Lord Glassford for life. In 1688 she obtained a new charter settling the lordship of Sempill in default of male issue, upon her daughters without division by her then and any future husband. Her younger son, the twelfth Lord, commanded the left wing of the government army at the Battle of Culloden in 1746.
Craigievar Castle is a pinkish harled castle or fortified country house 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It was the seat of Clan Sempill, and the Forbes family resided here for 350 years until 1963, when the property was given to the National Trust for Scotland by the 19th Lord Sempill.
Clan Sempill is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.
Patrick Forbes was a late 16th-century and early 17th-century Scottish churchman rising to the post of Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen.
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Lumphanan is a village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland located 25 miles (40 km) from Aberdeen and 10 miles (16 km) from Banchory.
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Clan Forbes is a Highland Scottish clan from Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
John Forbes-Sempill, 18th Lord Sempill was a Scottish peer, the 18th Lord Sempill and 9th Baronet of Craigievar.
Rear-Admiral The Hon. Arthur Lionel Ochoncar Forbes-Sempill was a Scottish officer of the Royal Navy active in the First World War.
William Forbes-Sempill, 17th Lord Sempill, born William Forbes, was a Scottish peer, the 17th Lord Sempill and 8th Baronet of Craigievar.
Sir Robert Abercromby, 5th Baronet of Birkenbog and Forglen, FRSE, DL was a Scottish politician and landowner.
John Forbes (c.1568–1634) was a Scottish minister exiled by James VI and I. He founded a Church of Scotland in Middelburg in the Netherlands. He was born about 1568, and was third son of William Forbes of Corse and Elizabeth, daughter of Alexander Strachan of Thornton. He graduated M.A. at St Andrews in 1583, and was settled in Alford in 1593. In November 1602 the General Assembly chose him as one of those whom the King might select for nominating commissioners from the various Presbyteries to Parliament. At Alford he came into conflict with the powerful sept of the Gordons, who were vigorous opponents of Protestantism, and when the Synods of Aberdeen and Moray excommunicated the Marquess of Huntly, and Huntly had appealed successfully to the Privy Council, Forbes was sent by these Synods to London to represent the case to King James. He was elected Moderator of the General Assembly of Aberdeen on 2 July 1605 contrary to the King's order. Of twelve Aberdeenshire ministers who were present ten afterwards admitted the illegal nature of the Assembly, but Forbes [and Charles Fearn, minister of Fraserburgh] having been summoned before the Privy Council, declined the Council's jurisdiction, on the ground that the Assembly had dealt wholly with spiritual matters. For this he was imprisoned at Blackness, tried for high treason, and banished the country. On 7 November 1606 he sailed from Leith for Bordeaux, and after spending a time with Boyd of Trochrig at Saumur, he proceeded to Sedan. Much of his work thereafter consisted in visiting the Reformed Churches and Universities on the Continent, in which were many Scots students and professors. In 1611 he became minister of the English congregation at Middelburg, Holland, and soon after he was offered release from his sentence, but upon conditions he could not accept. In 1616 he came to London, where he had an interview with the King, who promised to annul his banishment — a promise which was not fulfilled. In 1621 he was minister at Delft, but the hatred of his former ministerial brethren, some of whom were now bishops, instigated Laud and the English Government to procure his dismissal, and this was carried out in 1628. He died in Holland in 1634.
Esslemont Castle is a ruined tower house in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is located on the A920 west of Ellon and is designated a scheduled ancient monument.
James Ochoncar Forbes, 17th Lord Forbes (1765–1843), was a Scottish soldier and peer. He was the eldest son of James Forbes, 16th Baron Forbes, by Catherine, only daughter of Sir Robert Innes, baronet, of Orton. The lands of Forbes, Aberdeenshire, still in their possession, have been held by this family since the reign of William the Lion (1165–1214).
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