Castle of Rattray

Castle of Rattray
Rattray, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
The castle shown on a 1931 Ordnance Survey map as "Site of Cas" to the south-east of Loch Strathbeg.
Coordinates	NK088578
Site information
Owner	Comyn family (early 13th to early 14th centuries)
Condition	Destroyed, no remains.
Site history
Built	12th century
In use	12th, 13th and early 14th centuries.
Materials	originally timber, then stone.
Demolished	timber structure likely 1308, stone unknown.

The Castle of Rattray was a medieval Scottish castle, with multiple variations on its structure over approximately six centuries. Originally built as a "late 12th- or early 13th century defensive motte" it provided protection for Starny Keppie harbour and Rattray village. Sometime between 1214 and 1233 it was upgraded by William Comyn, jure uxoris Earl of Buchan before being destroyed in the 1308 Harrying of Buchan. After Comyn's timber castle was burned down it was replaced by a stronger stone castle which was engulfed during a 1720 sand storm along with nearby Rattray village. After the storm, the castle was not dug out and remains covered to this day. The castle was described by W. Douglas Simpson as one of the nine castles of the Knuckle, referring to the rocky headland of north-east Aberdeenshire.

The castle was sited on Castlehill, on the south bank of the now closed estuary flowing into Strathbeg Bay- the north bank was protected by the opposite Lonmay Castle. Specifically the castle was "beside an inlet which led from the sea into a sheltered harbour" on "the harbour side" of Rattray village. The later stone castle is known to have had a "harbour-side entrance".

Originally situated on "a rock near the sea", Castlehill is today about 1 mile inland as shifting sands have significantly altered the shape of the coast. Located to the south of Loch Strathbeg it can been seen as a grassy "circular mound" which is "oval & natural with its top slightly dished". A 1791 book states it has a "summit"... [of] "half a Scots acre" (approx. 0.25 hectare) and "rises 38 feet"... (11.6 metres) "above a small plain on the"... north-east "but is only 12 or 14 feet"... (3.7 or 4.3 metres) "above the higher ground" to the south-west.

The first construction on Castlehill was a small late middle age, 12th century "timber castle or Motte" built to protect the estuary.