Alternative Names Auchindown Castle
Site type FORT, TOWER HOUSE
Canmore ID 16797
Site Number NJ33NW 1
NGR NJ 3488 3745
Council MORAY
Parish MORTLACH
Former Region GRAMPIAN
Former District MORAY
Former County BANFFSHIRE

Canmore Mapping
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Archaeological Notes

NJ33NW 1 3488 3745.

(NJ 3488 3745) Auchindown Castle (NR)
(in ruins). Fosse (NR).
(Undated) OS map.

A 15th century L-plan tower, attributed to James Cochrane, Earl of Mar, or Thomas Cochran, favourite of James III. It stands inside a prehistoric hill-fort. All the authorities use the spelling 'Auchindoun'.
D MacGibbon and D Ross 1887; W D Simpson 1929; S Cruden 1960.

Auchindoun Castle, as described and planned by Cruden (S Cruden 1960), Simpson (W D Simpson 1929) and MacGibbon and Ross (D MacGibbon and T Ross 1887), scheduled for restoration, is situated within a bivallate Iron Age fort. The inner rampart of the fort, formed by ditch and outer bank, is mutilated by approach ramps to the castle on the W side, and by quarrying on the S side. The outer defences are formed by natural rocky slopes in the E and ditch and outer bank to the N and S; the rampart is destroyed by cultivation in the W.
Re-surveyed at 1/2500.
Visited by OS (N K B) 24 January.
D MacGibbon and D Ross 1887; W D Simpson 1929; S Cruden 1960.

A clearance excavation was carried out in 1984 prior to further masonry consolidation. The most significant discovery was that of a barrel-vaulted stone-lined chamber, 2m long by 1.7m wide by 1.7m deep, cut into the bedrock beneath the floor of the main cellar.
J Wordsworth 1991.

(Location cited as NJ 3488 3745 and classified as Site of Regional Significance. Public monument with regular hours and entry fee). 15th century L-plan tower within a possible bivallate fort, although there is some disagreement whether this is an Iron Age fort or an earlier medieval castle; the inner rampart (formed by ditch and outer bank) is mutilated by approach-ramps to the castle on the W side and by quarrying on the E while the outer defences are formed by a natural rocky slope to the E with a ditch and outer bank to the N and S.
The castle is said to have been built by Thomas Cochrane (architect and favourite of James III from whom he received the earldom of Mar in 1479). Clearance [by Wordsworth] of the ground and first floor levels of the main tower revealed a vaulted chamber set below ground level. Gothic ribbed vault to hall; ground floor has elliptic barrel vaults; remains of enclosed courtyard wall.
Present castle built c. 1479; the Gordons received the lands in 1535.
[Air photographic imagery listed].
NMRS, MS/712/35, visited 6 June 1984.

Architectural Notes

EXTERNAL REFERENCE:

National Library
Nattes Drawings, Vol. 3, Nos. 15-16 & 20. - 4 drawings.

Bogdan and Bryce, N and I B D (1991) 'Castles, manors and 'town houses' survey', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 37

Coventry, M (2001) The castles of Scotland Musselburgh
Page(s): 63-64 Held at RCAHMS F.5.2.COV

Cruden, S (1960a) 'The Scottish Castle', Edinburgh
Page(s): 122 Held at RCAHMS F.5.21.CRU

Fawcett, R (2002) Scottish medieval churches: architecture and furnishings, Stroud
Page(s): 224 Held at RCAHMS F.5.31.FAW

MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1887-92) The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, 5v Edinburgh
Page(s): Vol. 1, 314-7 plan, fig. 268 Held at RCAHMS F.5.21.MAC

Scottish Castle Survey (1988) 'A directory of the owners and occupiers of the castles, manors and 'town houses' {c.1050-c.1707} of Scotland: Grampian Region', Aberdeen
Page(s): 61, no.134/1 Held at RCAHMS B.2.1.CAS

Simpson, W D (1929a) 'The early castles of Mar. (First paper)', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.63
Page(s): 127, footnote Held at RCAHMS D.5.11.MAR.P

Wordsworth, J (1984d) 'Auchindoun Castle (Morlach p) Vaulted chamber, coin', Discovery Excav Scot
Page(s): 12

Wordsworth, J (1991aa) 'Excavation at Auchindoun Castle, Moray District, in 1984', Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol.120
Page(s): 169-71