Pitcaple Castle

Pitcaple Castle stands in open farmland about 600 metres north-east of the village of Pitcaple in Aberdeenshire. The original four-storey tower house was built by the Leslie clan in the late 15th century, possibly around 1470. In 1562 Mary, Queen of Scots stayed there during her travels. The castle’s Z-shaped footprint comes from the addition of five-storey round turrets in the early 17th century. In 1639 the Marquess of Huntly made it his headquarters, and in 1644 Charles II spent a night in the tower. The present house grew from a major enlargement in 1830, designed by the Scottish architect William Burn. The ground-floor openings of the old tower were blocked up and a new entrance created in the 1830s wing. A further extension in 1870 added a service wing and fitted the hall with red-granite Corinthian columns. The tower’s entrance now sits at the base of the south-west stair turret. Visitors walk past the 1830s asymmetrical two-storey block to reach the tower’s new doorway. Inside, the hall shows its red-granite columns and classical detailing. The isolated setting between the A96 road and the River Urie gives views across open fields and the water meadows of the Urie valley.