Aberdeen City HER - NJ90SW0001 - PITFODDEL'S CASTLE

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Main Details

Primary ReferenceNJ90SW0001
NamePITFODDEL'S CASTLE
NRHE Card No.NJ90SW1
NRHE Numlink 20247
HES SM No. 3744
HES LB No. NULL
Site Form Standing Structure
Site Condition Incomplete
Details Remains of a possible motte and bailey castle, the bailey as covered with grassy mounds, the remains of a later stone castle of the Menzies family, which was built around the beginning of the 15th century and abandoned by 1622. The motte, also known as Castleheugh, is a natural mound (circa 40m by 25m with regularly scarped sides) topped by a slight, possibly artificial mound circa 1m high with a flat summit measuring 7m by 3m. Survey and recording carried out by CFA in 1992 observed that no trace of a bailey was evident, and may have been removed by landscaping around the motte. The 1st edition map shows the motte to have been much larger, almost twice as extensive as at present. The mound has been landscaped on several occasions: a terrace has been cut into it on the east, a track cuts into both north and south sides, and it has been dug into on the southwest for an extension to Norwood House Hotel. There is no trace of any earthwork castle on the mound: a small rectangular platform on the west may be a garden feature of the country house. If there was an earlier castle here it was probably built by the Murrays of Colbyn who obtained the barony of Pitfoddel de novo between 1389 and 1397. The barony passed to the Rede family in the 15th century and to the Menzies in the 16th century.
Last Update15/02/2024
Updated Bycpalmer
CompilerACU
Date of Compilation13/09/2017

Google Map for NJ90SW0001

National Grid Reference: NJ 9103 0297



Event Details

Event DateEvent TypeOASIS ID
1992 Field Survey

Excavations and Surveys


Artefact and Ecofact

Ecofact

Samples
Palynology
Ecofact Notes

Monument Types

Monument Type 1Monument Type 2Monument Type 3OrderProbability
MOTTES REMAINS OFB70
BAILEYS SITE OFC75
CASTLES REMAINS OFA100