Inverugie, a small village in St Fergus parish, Banffshire (detached), on the left bank of the Ugie, 1¾ mile above its mouth, 3 miles NW of Peterhead, and ¾ mile N by E of Inverugie station on the Peterhead branch of the Great North of Scotland railway. The lands of Inverugie were granted by William the Lyon (l1651214) to Bernard le Cheyne, of whose descendants Reginald was chamberlain of Scotland from 1267 to 1269, whilst Henry, his brother, was Bishop of Aberdeen from 1281 to 1333. Reginald's granddaughter conveyed them by marriage about 1350 to a younger branch of the Keith family, which in 1538 became united to the main stem by the marriage of William, fourth Earl Marischal, and Margaret, daughter and co-heiress of Sir William Keith of Inverugie; and, forfeited by their sixth descendant, the tenth Earl Marischal, for his share in the '15, since 1764 they have belonged to the Fergusons of Pitfour. The Cheynes' original castle stood on the coast, at the influx of the Ugie to the ocean, opposite Buchanhaven; and is now represented by only faint vestiges; but seems from these to have been a structure of considerable extent. It is said to have been visited by True Thomas of Ercildoune, who prophesied concerning it-
'Inverugie by the sea,
Lordiess shall thy landis be'
The subsequent castle, close to the village, was founded about 1380 by Sir John de Keith, though ' Cheyne's Tower ' is probably of earlier date; but it was mainly erected, about the close of the 16th century, by the fifth Earl Marischal, who founded Marischal College in Aberdeen. Exhibiting features and styles distinctly indicative of its various dates, it was, next to Dunnottar Castle, the principal seat of the Earls Marischal, and forms the theme of many traditions respecting their bygone magnificence. In the latter half of last century the main building was floored, roofed in, and surmounted by an observatory; but the next proprietor stripped it of these modernisings, and suffered ruin to resume her sway. On the N it is screened by a rising-ground, the Castle Hill, where the Earls once exercised ' the power of pit and gallows; ' and it now exhibits a picturesque appearance, with the river winding between its wooded banks around three sides of it.-Ord. Sur., sh. 87, 1876.
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