Inverallochy Castle

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Inverallochy Castle is the ruins of a courtyard castle near the village of Inverallochy in Buchan, northeast Scotland. It dates from around 1504, during the early 16th century. The castle stood beside the now-drained Loch of Inverallochy, about half a mile south of Cairnbulg Castle near Fraserburgh.

Historically, the castle was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the “nine castles of the Knuckle,” a reference to the rocky headland in northeast Aberdeenshire.

Today’s remains show buildings around three sides of a central courtyard, with a curtain wall across the south side. A tower in the northeast corner remains tall, while the other walls have largely collapsed. Traces of a larger outer courtyard about 60 metres square lie to the north and east. The site is protected as a scheduled monument.

The castle seems to have been built in one go, and it may be the work of Sir William Comyn of Inverallochy, who was Lord Lyon from 1512 to 1519. Until the late 18th century, a stone above the entrance bore the Comyn arms and an inscription saying that Jordan Comyn obtained the estate to build Deer Abbey.