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Tower and mausoleum that are set on the summit of a hilltop site, which is also a prehistoric fort (NJ16SE0007). York Tower is a tall three-storey Gothic folly, built by William Robertson, architect, Elgin, and dated 5th January, 1827. It was built in memory of Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, who died on 5th January 1827, by Alexander Forteath of Newton. The tower is constructed from harl pointed rubble, with tooled and polished ashlar dressings. There is a pointed-headed, hoodmoulded entrance in the east face, with worn masked stops to the hoodmould, and a single order of nailhead decoration to the moulded recessed doorway. There is a dated plaque above the entrance, which is flanked by blind cruciform arrow slits. There are similar slits to alternate faces in the ground and first floors, with long 'keyhole' slits in the upper storey. There are also round-headed windows in alternate faces in the first floor and second floors. The windows in the in second have mask decoration to the cill corbels. There is a pulvinated string course that delineates each storey. The tower has a corbelled and crenelated wallhead, with a small stack masked by the crenellation. It has a flat roof with a centre flagstaff. Inside the tower, there is a rubble walled interior with access to each floor by a crude wooden staircase. There is a small mural fireplace in the upper room. The Forteath mausoleum was built by A. and W. Reid in circa 1850, and is directly northeast of York Tower. It has a subterranean vault, revealed only at the north by a tooled rubble wall, with a block pedimented walled-up entrance under a square railed enclosure. There is a rectangular tomb in the centre of the enclosure on a stepped base, under a shallow pyramidal shaped top with angle acroteria decorated with carved thistles. It was built for Dr Alexander Forteath, who died in 1866. There are inscribed polished granite tablets set into the side of the tomb, with three on each side and a single tablet at each end, each naming members of the Forteath family. On the tower is an Ordnance Survey trigonometrical survey point (OS trig point) in the form of a disc (with rivet) and flagstaff. A trig point is also depicted here on the 1st edition OS map.
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Historic Environment Records (HER) 
Moray
HER -
NJ16SE0092 - YORK TOWER AND FORTEATH MAUSOLEUM, ALVES