Fetternear Palace

Fetternear Bishop’s Palace stands on sloping ground above the Marshes Burn near Kemnay in Aberdeenshire. It was one of the residences used by medieval bishops of Aberdeen for pastoral visitations across their diocese. The site later became home to a ruined tower-house and a mansion called Fetternear House. The name Fetternear comes from the Gaelic word for terraced land, describing the slope where the palace once stood. A nearby parish kirk dedicated to St Ninian lay about a mile north of the palace on the River Don. The lands belonged to the church from at least the twelfth century, with early charters confirming ownership. The palace is important because it shows how bishops managed their diocese through seasonal visits. Bishop Alexander de Kininmund I reportedly spent summers at Fetternear while visiting parishes. Hector Boece, the first principal of the University of Aberdeen, recorded this tradition in the sixteenth century. The Scottish Episcopal Palaces Project, founded in 1995 by Nicholas Bogdan and Penelope Dransart, investigated the site’s medieval layout. Excavations revealed a moat, timber bridge, oak palisade, and a chapel with surviving masonry walls. Finds included window glass and evidence of a kitchen in the palace’s south-west corner. Visitors today see grassy mounds marking the foundations of the medieval palace. The remains of the moat and ditch can still be traced around the site. A short distance south of the tower-house, sections of the chapel’s east and south walls stand exposed. The excavations uncovered a timber bridge’s sole plate, showing where visitors once entered. Artefacts like window glass and kitchen debris are displayed in nearby museums. The landscape slopes gently down to the Marshes Burn, giving a sense of the palace’s original setting. The ruins offer a quiet place to imagine the bishops’ seasonal journeys across the diocese.