Purchase Cairn

The most northerly and oldest of a fine collection of commemorative cairns within the policies of Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, the Purchase Cairn is located on a northern summit of Craig Gowan and celebrates the purchase of the castle and estate by Prince Albert on 11th October, 1852. Shaped like a giant haystack, Queen Victoria records in her diary that the family climbed the hill on the 18th October and she placed the first stone. The second was laid in place by Albert and others by their children (in order of age) and estate-workers. Albert then climbed to the top to place the last stone. The cairn offers an excellent view over the Dee Valley to the east.


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