Cushnie Castle

Cushnie Castle stands in the Glen of Cushnie, about nine and a half kilometres south-west of Alford in Aberdeenshire. It was built in the 16th century as a tower house beside the Cushnie Burn. The land had belonged to the Cusnie family since at least the 12th century. The Leslies took possession through marriage early in the 14th century. By 1628 the property had passed to the Lumsdens, or possibly as early as 1618 according to a coat of arms. Only a single vault remains of the original castle. Cushnie Lodge, built in 1707, is a two-storey L-plan tower house. Its walls are harled and it has corbie-stepped gables. A roll-moulded doorway is set in the re-entrant angle of the plan. In the 19th century the house was altered to its present form. Visitors find the lodge standing in a quiet glen with the burn running nearby. The harled walls and stepped gables give the building a plain but solid appearance. The roll-moulded doorway marks the main entrance. The surrounding landscape of fields and hills completes the scene.