Findlater Castle is the old seat of theEarls of Findlater andSeafield, sitting on a 50-foot (15 m)-high cliff overlooking theMoray Firth on the coast ofBanff and Buchan,Aberdeenshire,Scotland.
It lies about 15 km (9.3 mi) west ofBanff, near the village ofSandend, betweenCullen andPortsoy. The cliffs here containquartz; the name "Findlater" is derived from theScots Gaelic wordsfionn ("white") andleitir ("cliff or steep slope").
The first historical reference to the castle is from 1246.King Alexander III of Scotland repaired this castle in the 1260s in preparation for an invasion byKing Haakon IV ofNorway. The Norwegians took and held the castle for some time. The castle remains that are still there are from the 14th-century rebuilding, when the castle was redesigned based on theRoslyn Castle model.
James V of Scotland visited Findlater in November 1535 after a pilgrimage to Tain.[1] The Laird of Findlater, an Ogilvy, was Master of Household toMary of Guise. He lost his inheritance following sexual misconduct with his mother-in-law and making a plan to imprison his father in a cellar to deprive him of sleep and drive him insane to obtain his lands. After his father's death his mother married John Gordon, a son of theEarl of Huntly, who then took possession of the castle and lands, and promptly imprisoned her.[2]
John Gordon, now of Findlater, fought withLord Ogilvy in July 1562 and injured his arm.[3] Gordon was imprisoned in Edinburgh until his victim healed, according to custom.[4] In September 1562Mary, Queen of Scots sent an army equipped with artillery fromDunbar Castle to besiege Findlater, and eject John Gordon of Findlater.[5] When Mary was nearby on 20 September, she had sent her trumpeter messenger to deliver the castle to the captain of her guard, but he was refused.[6] In October 1562 the Earl of Huntly sent Mary the keys of Findlater andAuchindoun, but she was suspicious of the low status of the messenger.[7]
James Ogilvy, 1st Earl of Findlater, was given the earldom in 1638. He built the nearbyCullen House to take the place of the castle as the family seat and by the time he died in 1653 it was little used and in decline.
The castle is ascheduled monument.[8]
Settlements and places of interest inBanff and Buchan,Aberdeenshire | ||
|---|---|---|
| Primary settlements |  | |
| Other settlements | ||
| Places of interest | ||
57°41′32.60″N2°46′13.47″W / 57.6923889°N 2.7704083°W /57.6923889; -2.7704083