Blairfindy Castle

Blairfindy Castle is an L-plan tower house, dating from the 16th century,[1] around 6.5 miles (10.5 km) north of Tomintoul, and west of the River Livet.

Complete with a new access path and disabled parking alongside an information board, visitors can go inside the castle ruins on a free flow basis.

[3] The lands of Blairfindy were historically part of the Lordship of Stratha'an, granted to Earl Duncan of Fife in 1187, and was then inherited by David de Strathbogie, his son.

The first recorded occupants of Blairfindy were Grants, as tenants of the Earl of Huntly in 1470, and the many alterations shown in the ruins suggest they may have erected a tower here.

However no record of such a building survives, and when Alexander Gordon of Stratha'an, third son of the Earl of Huntly, married Jean Grant, he may have acquired the estate.

In 1647, the Earl of Huntly was kept prisoner at Blairfindy Castle overnight after his capture at Delnabo, and then transferred to Edinburgh for his eventual execution.

The castle, which belongs to the Crown Estate, was stabilised and extensive works carried out to enable it to be opened to the public began in March 2019, and were completed in the spring of 2021.

[1] It has been argued that in a tower house of this relatively late date the machicolation was a deliberately archaic addition which gave a warlike appearance to what was essentially a residential building.