Balcraig Castle

Balcraig Castle was a medieval stronghold built on land granted by King Robert the Bruce around 1317. It stood on the western slope of Hatton Hill, half a mile south of Newtyle in Angus, within the Sidlaw Hills. The site once commanded a strategic view over a natural pass through the hills. Its purpose was to guard the route through this cleft in the landscape. Today only a levelled area in a field marks where the castle once rose. The castle’s origins lie in royal favour shown to Sir William Oliphant, Lord of Aberdalgie. In 1317 the king rewarded him with estates including Newtyle and Balcraig. The exact date of Balcraig’s construction remains unknown. By 1575 a newer fortress, Hatton Castle, had taken its place nearby. The only surviving image of Balcraig appears on Timothy Pont’s map from about 1590. Archaeologists have found large boulder stones near the site, suggesting stone foundations rather than wood. A diary records the castle being blown up at Newtyle long after it had fallen out of use. Hatton Castle, though ruinous until restored in the 1980s, still stands nearby. Visitors today see a quiet field with a slight rise where the castle once stood, a reminder of Angus’s medieval past.