Rattray Castle Aberdeenshire

Rattray Castle is a large oval mound within a silted up ditch surrounded by farmland. The fields are fenced off and used by livestock, so permission should be sought from the farmer before trying to gain access. It is part of a wider medieval landscape with the old ruined parish church nearby, and evidence of rig and furrow cultivation all round. There was a harbour here in medieval times, now silted up, and a fledgling burgh

On the summit of the mound are traces of a stone perimeter wall, and excavation has revealed that a number of impressive stone buildings stood within the wall, dated to the mid 14th century. It was founded by the Comyn earls of Buchan in the 13th century and was almost certainly destroyed during the Bruce “herschip” of Buchan in 1307. The castle and burgh were later granted to Archibald Douglas, brother of Sir James Douglas, and it is likely that the Douglases were responsible for the erection of the stone buildings, suggesting that the Comyn castle was less impressive. It may be that the castle and burgh were already in decline or abandoned when the Douglases were forfeited in the 1450s.

HES Canmore database entry