Westhall Castle, also known as Westhall House, is a country house located to the north of Oyne, in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The house includes a 16th-century L-plan tower house, which was substantially extended in the 17th and 19th century. [1] The house is a category A listed building. [2]
The estate was held by the Bishops of Aberdeen in the 13th century, and passed to the Gordons during the Reformation. The original L-plan tower was constructed in the 16th century, with a round tower added in the 17th century. [1] In 1681 it was purchased by the Rev James Horne, vicar of Elgin. Further extensions were added around 1838. By the mid 19th century it was the property of Sir James Elphinstone, who invested in both the Aberdeen Canal Company and the Great North of Scotland Railway. [1] Elphinstone, who lived at nearby Logie House, represented Portsmouth in the House of Commons between 1857 and 1880.
Westhall was later used as an agricultural school, [2] and as a hotel which closed in the 1990s. A period of neglect followed, during which the house was sold several times and was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. [3] In 2011 new owners took over the house, and its condition is described as "semi-derelict, but stabilised". [4]
A listed building, or listed structure, is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, Cadw in Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency in Northern Ireland.
Slains Castle, also known as New Slains Castle to distinguish it from the nearby Old Slains Castle, is a ruined castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It overlooks the North Sea from its cliff-top site 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) east of Cruden Bay. The core of the castle is a 16th-century tower house, built by the 9th Earl of Erroll. Significant reconstruction of the castle has been carried out a number of times, lastly in 1837 when it was rebuilt as a Scots Baronial mansion. At one time it had three extensive gardens but is now a roofless ruin. Plans to restore the castle have been on hold since 2009. It is a Historic Environment Scotland Category B listed building. The castle is linked with the novels of Bram Stoker, including Dracula.
Oyne is a small village in rural Aberdeenshire at the bottom of Bennachie in Scotland.
Kinnaird Head is a headland projecting into the North Sea, within the town of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, on the east coast of Scotland. The 16th-century Kinnaird Castle was converted in 1787 for use as the Kinnaird Head Lighthouse, the first lighthouse in Scotland to be lit by the Commissioners of Northern Lights. Kinnaird Castle and the nearby Wine Tower were described by W. Douglas Simpson as two of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire. The lighthouse is a category A listed building. and the Wine Tower. is a scheduled monument. The buildings around the base of the lighthouse are the work of Robert Stevenson.
The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) was an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government that was "sponsored" [financed and with oversight] through Historic Scotland, an executive agency of the Scottish Government.
Balloch Castle is an early 19th-century country house situated at the southern tip of Loch Lomond, in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Balloch was a property of the Lennox family from the 11th century, and the old castle was built in the 13th century. In the 19th century the estate was purchased by John Buchanan of Ardoch, who demolished the ruins of the old castle and erected the present building. The Tudor Gothic architecture is the work of Robert Lugar. In 1915 Balloch was bought by Glasgow City Corporation, and has been leased by West Dunbartonshire Council since 1975. The estate was designated as a country park in 1980, and since 2002 has been part of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. Although the house has been periodically used for visitor facilities and council offices, it is now included on the Buildings at Risk Register. Balloch Castle is a category A listed building, and the estate is included on the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland.
Moniack Castle is a 16th-century tower house located 7 miles (11 km) west of Inverness, and just south of Beauly in Highland, Scotland. The castle was built in 1580 by members of the Clan Fraser. The castle is protected as a category B listed building.
Penkill Castle is a 16th-century castle with later additions. It is around 1⁄2 mile south of Old Dailly, northeast of Girvan in south Ayrshire, Scotland.
Midhope Castle is a 16th-century tower house in Scotland. It is situated in the hamlet of Abercorn on the Hopetoun estate, About 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the west of South Queensferry, on the outskirts of Edinburgh. It is a Category A listed building.
Castle Forbes is a 19th-century country house in the Scottish baronial architecture style near Alford in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Breachacha Castle is either of two structures on the shore of Loch Breachacha, on the Inner Hebridean island of Coll, Scotland. The earlier is a 15th-century tower house that was a stronghold of the Macleans of Coll, the island having been granted to John Maclean in 1431. This castle was superseded by a new dwelling in 1750 but continued to be occupied for a time, falling into a ruinous state only in the mid-19th century. Although work was performed in the 1930s to prevent further dilapidation, the castle was restored to livable condition only in the 1960s, by Nicholas MacLean-Bristol and his wife Lavinia. It is a Category A listed building.
Hoddom Castle is a large tower house in Dumfries and Galloway, south Scotland. It is located by the River Annan, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) south-west of Ecclefechan and the same distance north-west of Brydekirk in the parish of Cummertrees. The castle is protected as a category A listed building.
Lanrick Castle was a late 18th-century country house near Doune in central Scotland. It was demolished in 2002 despite being protected as a category B listed building. It was located on the south bank of the River Teith, in Stirling council area.
Leswalt is a village and civil parish in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It lies between Portpatrick and Stranraer in the Rhins of Galloway, part of the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The parish covers around 8 square miles (21 km2).
Abergeldie Castle is a four-floor tower house in Crathie and Braemar parish, SW Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It stands at an altitude of 840 feet (260 m), on the south bank of the River Dee, five miles (8 km) west of Ballater, and about two miles (3 km) east of the royal residence of Balmoral Castle. Behind it rises Creag nam Ban, a rounded granite hill about 527 metres (1,729 ft) high, and across the river to its front is the cairn-crowned Geallaig Hill, rising to 743 metres (2,438 ft).
Elphinstone Tower, also known as Dunmore Tower or Airth Tower, is a ruined tower house on the Dunmore Estate in central Scotland. It is located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north-west of Airth and 9 kilometres (5.6 mi) east of Stirling in the Falkirk council area. The 16th-century ruin is protected as a category C(S) listed building.
Tarbat House is a Category A listed building in the Highland council area of northern Scotland. A three-story stone mansion in the neoclassical style, it was built in 1787 by the Edinburgh architect James McLeran for John Mackenzie, Lord MacLeod. The house is located approximately 500m from the village of Milton near Invergordon.
Arnage Castle is a country house, incorporating a Z-plan tower house, located around 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Ellon, in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland. The tower house dates from the late 16th century, and was extended in subsequent centuries.
Strathleven House is an early 18th-century country house in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It is located in the Vale of Leven, around 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) north of Dumbarton. Built in 1700, it is probably the work of the architect James Smith, and has been described as "the earliest surviving example of the classic Palladian country house in Scotland". Strathleven House, and its 18th-century dovecote, are protected as category A listed buildings,
Midmar is a historic settlement in Aberdeenshire, lying north of Banchory and southwest of Inverurie. It is noted for its three stone circles and various standing stones. Midmar and Sunhoney are both recumbent stone circles.
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