Braemar Castle History

In the long story of Braemar Castle there are three outstanding years: in 1628 the building was commenced by John Erskine (1558-1634), Earl of Mar, as a bulwark against the rising power of the Farquharsons; in 1689, during the short-lived Jacobite rising, it was burned Out by the Black Colonel, John Farquharson of Inverey; and in 1748 it was restored as a garrison post by the Hanoverian Government to dominate the turbulent province of Mar. Within the framework of these dates history has swung full circle: in turn a centre of Jacobite resistance and a seat of Hanoverian authority, the
Castle that was built to overawe the Farquharsons of
Invercauld is now in regular occupation by them as their
most charming home.

The strategic importance of placing a castle at Braemar was recognised very early in Scottish history. At this point, where the ancient road from the south comes down from the hills into the upper valley of the Dee, the meeting-place was commanded by the 13th century royal castle of Kindrochit, the ruins of which can still be seen in the village of Braemar. The whole history of the province of Mar up to the 1745 rising was always one of local war, bloodshed and family feud, and the authority of the Earls of Mar, the traditional superiors of the province,
was challenged time and again, by the families of Gordon, Forbes and Farquharson.

When the estranged estates of the earldom of Mar were returned to the family of Erskine by Mary Queen of Scots in 1565, it was that family’s first concern to re-establish their position in Aberdeenshire. Thus John, the above Earl of Mar, important in history as High Treasurer of Scotland and guardian of the young King James VI (1566-1625), took back his castles of Corgarff and Kildrummy in Strathdon, and busied himself in 1628 with the erection of a new fortress at Braemar in Strathdee. “A great body of a house, a jam and a staircase”, is the description of a contemporary writer, and this precisely sums up Braemar
Castle as we see it today. At the same time we learn that this tower-house was put up with the dual purpose of providing a hunting-lodge for the Earl’s use when he came for sport to the great forests of Deeside, and of dominating his vassals and neighbours, the turbulent Farquharson clan.

The Farquharsons at this time were noted for their support of the House of Stuart, and when in 1689 John Grahame of Claverhouse, “Bonnie Dundee”, tried brilliantly but vainly to re-establish the Jacobite cause against that of Dutch King William, the Earl of Mar opposed him while the Farquharsons lent him all the aid they could. In April 1689 Claverhouse came north with the more slow-moving General Mackay upon his heels, and a party of 50 dragoons of Barclay’s Regiment and 60 foot- soldiers under the Master of Forbes was sent ahead from Mackay’s army to occupy Braemar Castle on behalf of King William. They narrowly missed capturing the Farquharson leader, John Farquharson of Inverey, who
promptly rounded upon the troopers, came on them at Braemar Castle by night, and sent them flying, while his next action was to burn out the castle to prevent the establishment there of a government garrison; this came instead to Abergeldie Castle, further down the Dee. John
Farquharson, popularly known as “The Black Colonel”, and a man of heroic build, is one of the most romantic figures in the whole history of Deeside. His escapes from the English Dragoons were legendary, on one occasion leading him on horseback up the precipitous north side of the Pass of Ballater. Tradition narrates that it was his habit to summon his servant to table by pistol—shot.

Although proposals to repair Braemar Castle were made both in 1689 and 1715, it remained a ruinous shell for the next 60 years after the Black Colonel’s burning, and it was not restored to occupation until 1748. In the interval much had happened. John Erskine (1675-1732), the then
Earl of Mar, known to the people of Scotland as “Bobbin’ Jock” and for a time Secretary of State and servant of the established throne, had been stripped of office on the accession of the Hanoverian King George I. Promptly Mar sought the exiled Jacobites and in fact was the
prime instigator and organiser of the rising of 1715. Coming to his Deeside estates, he called the disaffected Scottish chiefs to him at the Farquharson house of Invercauld, a mile from Braemar Castle; and after plans had been made, he raised the standard of King James VIII on September 6th, 1715, in Braemar village where the Invercauld Arms Hotel now stands. Two months later the disastrous battle of Sheriffmuir marked the collapse of the Jacobite attempt and the Earl’s estates were forfeited to the Crown.

The second part of the story of Braemar Castle starts in the year 1724 when the forfeited Deeside estates were purchased from the Government by Lord Dun and Lord Grange, both of them Erskines and kinsmen of the Earl of
Mar. The two lords in their turn sold the Castle and lands in 1732 to John Farquharson, ninth Laird of Invercauld, who had himself been “out” in the ‘15. The lands of Invercauld lie adjacent to Braemar Castle and for them the Farquharsons acknowledged the ancient feudal
superiority of the Earls of Mar. The Laird of Invercauld’s position therefore, when his house became the centre of operations in the Jacobite rising of 1715 was a difficult one. His judgement argued that he should withdraw from this rash uprising and he did in fact take no part in Mar’s
councils; he was, nevertheless, persuaded or obliged to take arms and was eventually captured at Preston and was imprisoned within the notorious Marshalsea Prison. With this experience behind him, and although his
daughter, “Colonel Anne”, personally called out Clan Mackintosh for the Young Pretender, the ninth Laird of Invercauld refused to take part in the rising of 1745 and withdrew first to Aberdeen and then to Leith. The consequence was that his lands on Deeside were plundered by the Jacobite army, and it is small wonder then that he took the decision in 1748 to lease Braemar Castle to the Hanoverian Government for 99 years.

It was at this point that the rebuilding of the Castle commenced, and here there enters the picture no less a figure than John Adam, son of William Adam, the architect and elder brother of the much more famous Robert Adam. In this year, 1748, both John and Robert Adam, young men at the time, were engaged in work at Fort George and elsewhere for the Board of Ordnance in Scotland, and John in fact held the post of Master Mason to the Board. It was perfectly natural therefore that the work of adapting the Castles of Braemar and Corgarff for
garrison use should be entrusted to him, and the
reconstruction of the upper floors of Braemar Castle can thus claim with some justification to be “early Adam work” — in execution if not in design. Plans for the work done here at this date still survive.

As matters turned out, the 99-year lease did not run its full course. The military garrison was withdrawn from this now peaceful Aberdeenshire village in 1797, and in 1807 steps were taken to bring about the return of Braemar
Castle to the Farquharsons of Invercauld. James, the tenth Laird, who succeeded his father in 1750, concerned himself with improving and enlarging his estates until became to own no less than 25,000 acres in Perthshire and 110,000 acres in Aberdeenshire. He died in 1805.
Unfortunately only one of his 11 children survived, the heiress Catherine Farquharson, who married in 1799 James Ross of Balnagowan, second son of the famous admiral, Sir Charles Lockhart Ross. On the death of the tenth Laird, James Ross adopted the surname of
Farquharson and the continuance of the line was ensured. It was in the lifetime of his son, the twelfth Laird of Invercauld, that Braemar Castle was again restored to provide a family home, and it was this Laird whose privilege it was to welcome Queen Victoria to the Castle when she attended the Braemar Gatherings.

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