Kindrochit Castle: A 14th-century hunting seat in Braemar

Nested within the heart of Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, the spectral ruins of Kindrochit Castle lure you into a bygone epoch. Constructed around the tail end of the 14th century, this monument originally functioned as a hunting lodge. Strategically positioned on the banks of the Clunie Water, a tributary of the River Dee, the site provided a major crossing of the Mounth of the Grampian Mountains.

King Robert II, who issued charters here most years between 1371 and 1388, made the site a staple in his routine. In 1390, King Robert III granted a licence to Malcolm Drummond to build a new tower on the site. The current ruins you witness today stand upon the ground floor of this tower, measuring approximately 19.3 meters (63 feet) long and 13 meters (43 feet) wide.

A restoration project from 2013 to 2014 brought the site back to life, and it has been open to the public for free all year round since Easter 2015. The ruins stand as thought-provoking relics of Scotland’s opulent past, situated where an earlier royal lodge once stood with a hall measuring 30 by 9 metres.

Sources suggest the castle was likely sited based upon strategic positions relative to the ancient Elsick Mounth trackway. Today, visitors can explore the ruins and experience a location that served as a significant site for Scottish royalty and subsequent inhabitants for centuries.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons