Udny Castle

A five-storey harled rectangular tower house, Udny Castle lies amongst parkland a quarter-mile (0.5 km) northeast of Udny Green and a half-mile (1 km) southwest of Pitmedden in Aberdeenshire. The castle was constructed in the 15th century, with walls some 2.5m (8 feet) in thickness. It was probably not the first structure on the site, because King David II had given lands here to Ronald of Uldney in the 14th century. It was heightened in the 17th century when bartizans at each corner and a parapet above water-spouts, on two sides only, were added. Having lain empty from c.1775, the castle became the centre of a new Baronial mansion built in 1874 by architect James Maitland Wardrop (1824-82). However, this Victorian extension was demolished in 1964, leaving the old tower perhaps just a little understated at the end of a grand carriage-drive that leads from Wardrop's south lodge and gates which remain.

An arched entrance on the east side leads to a vaulted basement. A turnpike stair rises to the hall on the first floor, which features window-seats and a fine Jacobean-style ceiling that was also Wardop's work in the mid-1880s. A further stair climbing to the rooms above. The tower has been restored by an Udny descendant and remains a family home.

In the 18th century, the Laird of Udny's Fool, a certain Jamie Fleeman, was perhaps the last family jester in Scotland.


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