Boyne Castle

Boyne Castle stands on a rocky ridge above the steep gorge of the Burn of Boyne in Aberdeenshire. The castle is a 16th-century quadrangular ruin about 2.4 kilometres east of Portsoy and 0.8 kilometres south of Boyne Bay. The land was once held by Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray, before passing to the Edmonstone family and then the Ogilvies through marriage. The castle was granted to Sir John Edmonstone by David II for services to the crown. Later, the Ogilvies obtained it in 1437 after a marriage linked to the royal house of Scotland.

The castle’s history includes a tragic legend about a child who fell from a window and the nurse who followed, both lost in the gorge. Mary, Queen of Scots stayed nearby at the Craig of Boyne in 1562, and Sir George Ogilvy or Alexander Ogilvy of Boyne may have built the present castle for his bride, Mary Beaton, a companion of the queen. James VI of Scotland visited in 1589, receiving news of his marriage to Anne of Denmark from his ambassadors.

Visitors find a ruin framed by the deep gorge on three sides and a wide dry moat on the south. The remaining walls and four round corner towers rise to about ten metres, while the twin-turreted gatehouse and raised causeway still mark the entrance. Traces of two walled gardens lie within the overgrown site, and the castle is recognised as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The setting offers quiet views over the Boyne Water valley and the distant Moray Firth.