List of castles in Aberdeenshire

This is a list of castles in Aberdeenshire.

List

Name	Type	Date	Condition	Ownership	Location	Notes	Picture
Abergeldie Castle	Tower house	About 1550	Preserved	Gordon family	Near Crathie NO 2870 9528	Leased to the Royal Family 1848–1970
Auchenhove Castle		16th century	Slight remains		Aboyne NJ 55438 02455
Banff Castle	Unknown	12th century	No remains	N/A	Banff NJ 68936 64201
Balmoral Castle	Baronial house	1856	In use as a residence	Private residence of The King [1]	Royal Deeside NO254950	On the site of a 15th-century castle
Balquhain Castle	Tower house	14th century	Ruined	Private	West of Inverurie NJ7315923603	Visited by Mary, Queen of Scots
Birse Castle	Baronial house	1911	Restored as a residence	Private	Forest of Birse NO520906	Rebuilt 1911
Bognie Castle	Tower house	1660s	Ruined	Private	Huntly NJ595450	Also known as Conzie Castle
Braemar Castle	Tower house	17th century	Preserved	Owned by the Farquharsons of Invercauld and managed by Braemar Community Ltd. [2]	Braemar NO155923
Cairnbulg Castle	Z-plan tower house	14th century	In use as a residence	Lady Saltoun	Cairnbulg NK015639	Restored in the 19th century. Also known as Philorth Castle. One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle.
Cluny Castle	Z-plan castle	c. 1604	In use as a residence	Private	South of Monymusk NJ6943412038
Cluny Crichton Castle	Tower house	1666	Ruined		North of Banchory
Cobairdy Castle	Tower house	16th century	No remains		North east of Huntly
Corgarff Castle	Tower house	c. 1550	Preserved	Historic Scotland	Strathdon NJ254086
Corse Castle	L and Z-plan castle	16th century	Ruined		Lumphanan
Corsindae House	L and U-plan castle	16th century	Occupied		North of Banchory
Coull Castle		13th century	Slight remains		Coull, near Aboyne
Craigievar Castle	Tower house	1626	Preserved	NTS	Alford NJ556093	decorative plasterwork
Craigston Castle	Tower house	1607	In use as a residence	Private	Turriff NJ762550
Crathes Castle	Tower house	1596	Preserved	NTS	Banchory NO735967	painted ceilings
Culsalmond	Unknown	16th century	Site		South east of Huntly	Probably on site of the present Newton House
Cushnie Castle	Unknown	16th century	Slight remains		South west of Alford	Succeeded by Cushnie Lodge
Daugh Castle	Probably wooden structure		Site		North of Huntly
Dee Castle	Tower house	15th century	Site		Glenmuick
Delgatie Castle	Tower house	1579	Preserved	Delgatie Castle Trust	Turriff NJ754505	painted ceilings
Dorlaithers Castle	Unknown	Unknown	Site		Near Turriff
Drum Castle	Tower house and Jacobean mansion with additions	13th and 17th century with 19th century additions	Preserved	NTS	Drumoak NJ796005	Tower built as a royal hunting lodge c.1286, extended in 1323. Jacobean mansion completed in 1619.
Drumtochty Castle	Castellated house	1812	Occupied	Private	Auchenblae NO699800
Dumbreck Castle					Ellon NJ 8982 2888
Easter Clune Castle	Tower House				Near Banchory NO 6123 9150
Dundarg Castle		14th century, rebuilt 16th century	Ruined	Private	New Aberdour NJ895648	One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Dunnideer Castle	Tower house	c. 1260	Ruined	Private	Insch NJ613282
Dunnottar Castle	Courtyard castle	16th century	Ruined	Private	Stonehaven NO880838
Eden Castle	Z-plan tower house	1577	Ruined	Private	Banff NJ697587
Esslemont Castle	Tower house	14th century or earlier	Ruined	Private	Ellon NJ932298
Fasque Castle	Baronial house	1809	Occupied	Private	Fettercairn NO648756
Fedderate Castle	L-plan tower house	1257	Ruined		Near New Deer
Fetteresso Castle	Castellated house	1761	Occupied as flats	Private	Stonehaven NO841855	Originally a 14th-century tower house
Findlater Castle	Courtyard castle	14th century	Ruined	Private	Sandend NJ540671
Foveran Castle	Unknown	12th or 13th century	Collapsed 1720	Clan Forbes	Southeast of Ellon
Fordyce Castle	L-plan castle	1592		Private residence	Fordyce NJ555637
Castle Forbes	Castellated house	1815	Occupied as a residence	Chief of Clan Forbes	Alford NJ621191
Castle Fraser	Z-plan tower house	1636	Preserved	NTS	Inverurie NJ722125
Freefield Castle	Unknown	Unknown; existed 1654	Site		11.5 miles (18.5 km) north of Inverurie 57°22′13″N2°32′20″W / 57.3703°N 2.5388°W / 57.3703; -2.5388	Replaced by Freefield House
Fyvie Castle	Tower house	13th century with additions	Preserved	NTS	Fyvie NJ763393	Most of the current structure (including the beautiful gatehouse) dates to the late 14th through late 16th century
Harthill Castle	Castellated mansion	17th century, restored	Occupied as a residence	Private	Near Inverurie 57°18′56″N2°31′17″W / 57.3156°N 2.5214°W / 57.3156; -2.5214
Hatton Castle	Castellated mansion	1814 but incorporates earlier structure	Occupied as a residence	Private	Turriff NJ7561646950
Gairnieston Castle			No remains		NJ 7344 5509
Gartly Castle	Keep	15th century	No remains		Near Gartly 57.3897°N 2.7770°W
Glenbuchat Castle	Z-plan tower house	1590	Ruined	Historic Scotland	Kildrummy NJ397148
Huntly Castle	L-plan tower house	15th to 17th century	Ruined	Historic Scotland	Huntly NJ532408	decorative plasterwork
Inchdrewer Castle	Tower house	16th century	Ruined	Private	South-west of Banff NJ6550560672
Inverallochy Castle	Courtyard castle	13th century	Ruined		Inverallochy NK040628	One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Invercauld Castle	Baronial house	18th century	In use as accommodation	Private	Royal Deeside NO173924
Inverey Castle	Laird's house	17th century	Ruined		Deeside 56°59′08″N3°30′05″W / 56.985658°N 3.501474°W / 56.985658; -3.501474
Inverugie Castle	Motte and bailey	12th century	Ruined		Inverugie NK102482
Kemnay House	L-Plan Castle, altered	17th century	Occupied		57°13′40″N2°26′32″W / 57.22784865°N 2.442272462°W / 57.22784865; -2.442272462
Kildrummy Castle	Castle of enceinte	Mid to late 13th century	Ruined	Historic Scotland	Kildrummy NJ451165
Kincardine Castle	Baronial house	19th century	In use as a residence	Private	Royal Deeside NN928093	14th century ruin nearby
Kindrochit Castle	Keep	14th century	Ruined		Braemar NO151913	Founded by Malcolm Canmore in 1059
Kinnaird Castle	Tower house	1570	In use as a lighthouse	Northern Lighthouse Board	Fraserburgh NJ998675	Now the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, one of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Kinnairdy Castle	Tower house	14th and 16th centuries	In use as accommodation	Private	Aberchirder NJ609497
Kinord Castle		14th century	Ruined		Loch Kinord	May be known as Loch Kinord Castle [3]
Knock Castle	Tower house	Around 1600	Ruined	Historic Scotland	Ballater NO352951
Knockhall Castle	Tower house	1565	Ruined		Near Newburgh, Aberdeenshire
Lauriston Castle	Courtyard castle with later additions	13th century	Still used as a residence	Private	St Cyrus NO761666
Leslie Castle	Tower house	14th century	Restored as a residence	Private	Leslie, Auchleven NJ599248
Lesmoir Castle	Courtyard castle	16th century	Ruined		Rhynie NJ47072806
Lonmay Castle	Motte?	Before 1720	No remains	N/A	Crimond NK061608	One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Migvie Castle	Enclosure castle	13th century	Slight remains		Tarland
Muchalls Castle	L-plan tower house	13th and 17th century	In use	House of Burnett	Muchalls NO892918
Castle Newe	Z-plan tower house	1831	No remains	N/A	Strathdon NJ378122	Incorporates a tower from 1604
Castle of Park	Z-plan tower house incorporated in later building		In use as a residence	Private	Cornhill NJ588571
Peill Castle	Motte?	Before 1650	Replaced by Leith Hall	NTS	Near Kennethmont, in Aberdeenshire	Alternative names: Leithhall; Peilside
Pitsligo Castle	Keep	1424	Ruined		Rosehearty NJ937670	Also known as Pitsligo Palace, one of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Pitfichie Castle	An intermediate link between a simple oblong tower and a fully developed Z plan.	Around 1564	A former ruin and restored in the 1970s/1980s, it is known in use as a private residence	Private	Monymusk, near Inverurie
Pittulie Castle		16th century	Ruined		Rosehearty NJ944670	One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Castle of Rattray	Motte	From 12th century	No remains	N/A	Rattray NK088578	One of the Nine Castles of Knuckle
Ravenscraig Castle	L-plan tower house	15th century	Ruined		Inverugie NK095487
Slains Castle	Tower house, rebuilt as castellated house	1597, rebuilt 1837	Ruined	Private	Cruden Bay NK101361	"New" Slains Castle
Slains Castle	Tower house	13th century	Ruined		Collieston NK052300	"Old" Slains Castle, destroyed 1594
Terpersie Castle	Z-plan tower house	1561	Restored	Private	Alford NJ546202
Tillyhilt Castle			Traces		Tarves NJ85423180
Tolquhon Castle	Courtyard castle	1589	Ruined	Historic Scotland	Pitmedden NJ872286
Turriff Castle			Site		Turriff NJ72154996
Udny Castle	Tower house	14-15th century		Private	North east of Udny Green NJ882268
Wardhill Castle
Wardhouse Castle	Tower house	13th century	Traces		NJ59302888
Waterton Castle	Tower house	16th century	Ruined		NJ97293033
Westhall Castle	L-plan tower house	16th century		Private	Insch NJ673266

See also

• Castles in Scotland
• List of castles in Scotland
• List of listed buildings in Aberdeenshire

Notes

1. Rose, Hilary (20 August 2025). "All back to Balmoral! The royals are up to their Highland games". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
2. "Braemar Castle". Archived from the original on 9 May 2008. Retrieved 2 June 2008.
3. Coventry, Martin (1997) The Castles of Scotland. Goblinshead. ISBN   1-899874-10-0 p.242

References

• Coventry, Martin (2001) The Castles of Scotland, 3rd Ed. Scotland: Goblinshead ISBN   1-899874-26-7
• Coventry, Martin (2010) Castles of the Clans Scotland: Goblinshead ISBN   1-899874-36-4
• Pattullo, Nan (1974) Castles, Houses and Gardens of Scotland Edinburgh: Denburn Press