Keith Inch Castle

Keith Inch Castle was a 16th-century tower house near Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. It stood on a small peninsula called Keith Inch, north of Peterhead Bay, about a mile east of the town. The castle had an L-shaped design with a courtyard and was also known as the Tower of Keith Inch. Another name for it was Keith Insch Castle. The site was later used for harbour improvements. The castle belonged to the Keith Earls Marischal and was probably built after 1589. It was strengthened with artillery fortifications, including seven Spanish cannons by 1715. In 1644, 500 Cromwellian soldiers occupied the castle as a base. During the Jacobite Rising of 1715, the 10th Earl Marischal supported the rebellion, and after its defeat, Hanoverian troops sacked the castle in February 1716. The Arbuthnotts later bought it and built a new house nearby, leaving the tower to fall into disuse. The castle had four storeys and a garret, with a round tower and an unadorned house on the landward side. It is thought to have been modelled on Kronborg Castle in Denmark. By 1813, the castle was demolished for harbour works, and its remains vanished by the late 19th century. Today, only occasional massive stone walls can still be found. The castle’s past is remembered in the name of Castle Street.