Glenbuchat Castle Reviews and Accommodation Guide. GlenBuchat Aberdeenshire, one of the tributary glens of the upper Don, opening out to the north at Bridge of Buchat, both scenically and historically of absorbing interest. Just above Bridge of Buchat, in the midst of the Castle Park. stands the ruin of Glenbuchat Castle, now under the care of the Department of the Environment.
One of the finest examples of the Z-plan tower-house, it was built by John Gordon, the younger of Cairnburrow and his second wife Helen Carnegie in 1590, Over the entrance with their names and the date appears the motto ‘Nothing on earth remains but fame‘ on the staircase (but now unfortunately vanished) was inscribed an eight-line ‘metaphysieal' poem, the translation of which reads: ‘This house shows that I have a care of my health as wives cherish their spouses so I love life I declare death a stranger On the contrary the godly love death, they cry that love is vanity but pain doth make them weep eternally. Then live to love, ere love is really thine, for love as lived, or beloved, or believed, divinely shines.‘
Most famous of the Gordons of Glenbuchat was the last, the John Gordon known to history as ‘Old Glenbuchat of the ’45‘. He fought at Sheriffmuir in the ’l5. When the "45 broke out he was aged sixty-eight, but he raised a little army of several hundred men and flung himself into the fray After the march to Derby, he accompanied the Jacobite army in all its terrible retreat to the north.
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- GlenBuchat Latitude 57.2207° N Longitude -2.9999° W
- GlenBuchat Postcode AB36
- GlenBuchat WOEID 25446
- Glenbuchat Weather Forecast
- Glenbuchat Map
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At Culloden he was in the second line of Prince Charles"s force. Thereafter his sufferings were extreme. His house at St Bridgefs near Tomintoul Was burned before his eyes. He hid under rocks and in woods in wild weather, let his hair grow to try to disguise himself, and eventually reached the Buchan coast and escaped to Norway in a small Swedish sloop, with a price of £1,000 upon his head. He died in poverty at Boulogne in 1750.
The old parish kirk at the Kirkton, a perfect example of the traditional country church of 200 years ago, was taken over by the former County Council for preservation as an Ancient Monument Its walls are plastered, and so is the coved ceiling. Between the pews the floor is cobbled, and the alleys are laid in Correen stone. The pews are arranged on three sides of the pulpit, which is midway along the south wall.
With its laird’s loft and its pews of unvarnished woodwork, it has been described as ‘a model of primitive but comely decency’.
