Fordell Castle

Fordell Castle is a restored 16th-century tower house, located 1.25 miles (2.01 km) north-west of Dalgety Bay and 2 miles (3.2 km) east of Dunfermline, in Fife, Scotland.

The earliest charter in the Henderson of Fordell papers dates from 1217, when Richard, son of Hugh de Camera, with consent of his wife & son, grants small parts of the lands of Fordal to the Abbey of Inchcolm. By 1240, William de Hercht had the lands of Fordell, when there was a dispute with Inchcolm over their respective boundaries. No further charters are known to survive until the 15th century. Part of the lands of Fordell were already in the hands of John Henrisoun of Fordell, Sergeant of the Barony, by 1465, when he was witness to a charter, later confirmed by the crown in 1488-9. A further portion was bought from Alexander Drummond of Ardmore on 6/3/1510-11, which sasine was confirmed by King James IV in 1511, and the castle was built in 1567 on the site of an earlier structure.Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed here when Marion Scott, one of her ladies-in-waiting, married George Henderson, the laird. The castle was destroyed by fire, but rebuilt c.1580. The castle was damaged again by Oliver Cromwell's army in 1651.

The Hendersons became baronets in 1694 during the reign of Charles II but the baronetcy became extinct when the last incumbent, Robert-Bruce Henderson, died in 1833. The castle then passed to a George Mercer, who adopted the additional surname "Henderson". By royal licence dated 14 January 1853, his son, British Army officer Colonel Douglas Mercer, afterwards Douglas Mercer-Henderson, and his issue were authorised to take the surname of Henderson in addition to and after Mercer, and to bear the arms of Henderson quarterly with those of Mercer.

In the 19th century, the family built a new mansion nearby, but kept the castle in good repair, including rebuilding the north front in 1855 (designed by Robert Hay). In 1866, the estate passed by marriage to Hew Duncan, second son of the Earl of Camperdown. The mansion was demolished in the 20th century, and there is now little visible evidence of its existence, other than the remains of stonework, foundations and the overgrown detritus of human habitation. Pine woodland has wholly taken over its former location, although a stone bridge over the former railway shows the position of the entrance, from the south-east, and the formal carriage-turning circle is still visible as a clearing.

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