Kincardine Castle

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Castleton, a farm, containing remains of an ancient royal palace, in Fordoun parish, Kincardineshire, 4 miles NW of Laurencekirk. The palace was the place where John Baliol, in 1296, resigned his crown to Edward I. of England, and probably was destroyed before the close of the wars of the succession. It stood on a small ridge, at an elevation of about 70 feet above adjoining levels; was surrounded by a morass, which lay undrained till the early part of the present century; and commanded a view of the finest part of the Howe of Mearns. It appears to have been of a quadrangular form, and to have possessed considerable military strength; but now is represented only by foundations or substructions. The ancient town of Kincardine, once the capital of the county, now represented by a small decayed village, stood adjacent to the palace.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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