Castle of Park (Aberdeenshire)
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Park or Castle of Park, is an A-listed rambling baronial mansion incorporating a 16th-century tower house. It is 4 miles (6.4 km) north-west of Aberchirder, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.[1]
History
[edit]The site was first built in 1292, and was for some time refuge of Robert the Bruce. In 1563 it was rebuilt as a Z-plan tower house, and it was extended in 1723,[2] and in 1829 and later.[1] The building was owned by the Gordons.
Born in 1586, Sir Adam Gordon of Glenbuchat Castle succeeded to the Lairdship of Park in 1623, becoming the first Laird. Sir John Gordon was created the 1st Baronet of Park on 15th August, 1686.
Sir William Gordon, 3rd Baronet of Park fought for the Jacobites during the Jacobite rising of 1745. He was captured by the English at the Battle of Culloden, imprisoned and later executed. The property was forfeited, and was acquired by the Duffs.[1]
Lady Posie Duff-Gordon (neé Tennant) contracted tuberculosis and with her husband, Thomas Duff-Gordon, the 12th Laird of Park, two small children and a nanny from Elgin traveled to Hyères, Pietermaritzburg and finally Davos for a cure. She died at Davos in 1888. Her husband's brother Cosmo Duff-Gordon was best known for the controversy surrounding his escape from the sinking of the RMS Titanic.
Structure
[edit]The castle incorporated in the newer mansion is a Z-plan tower house,[1] dating from the 1563 rebuilding.[2] It is finished in harl, and features a medieval whetstone used as an interior arch. There are several Victorian additions, though the 12 Georgian windows are still clearly in evidence. Today, roughly 45 acres, the Park Burn (landform) and several 250 year old sycamore trees remain of what was once the vast estate of the baronetcy of Park.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Coventry, Martin (1997) The Castles of Scotland. Goblinshead. ISBN 1-899874-10-0 p.276
- ^ a b "Park House". Canmore. Retrieved 23 October 2019.