Boddam Castle

Boddom Castle is a much ruined tower house and courtyard complex situated on a promontory just to the south of the village of the same name. Access is free at all times, although the site is overgrown and largely unmaintained – and with unprotected cliff edges dropping to the sea.

The castle was built by the Keith family of Ludquharn, an offshoot of the Inverugie family, in the late 16th or early 17th century. It consists of a modest courtyard occupying the width of the promontory with ranges of buildings on three sides, and with a defensive ditch separating the promontory from the shore. This was crossed by a drawbridge accessing the gate tower, which was protected by gun loops. On the north side of the courtyard was a three storey tower house of which nothing survives above the turf-covered foundations.

The castle may have survived in use into the mid 18th century, but was probably already abandoned when the last of the Ludquharn baronets died in 1771, and was subsequently used as a quarry.

HES Canmore database entry