Fetteresso Castle

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Fetteresso Castle

Fetteresso Castle is a former residential tower from the 14th century, which was in 1671 converted into a Palladian mansion, the Scottish Gothic. It is just west of the town of Stonehaven in Kincardineshire. Other notable historic property and castles in the region are Dunnottar Castle, Muchalls Castle, Fiddes Castle, Cowie Castle, Ury House and Monboddo House.

History

Middle Ages

It is on record that the area of the later Fetteresso Castle once belonged to the Strachan. In the 14th century, the Earls Marischal Of ( Clan Keith ) married into the family and thus came into the possession of the trading estate, on which they built a stone tower house. The Earls of Marischal also belonged to the nearby fortress of Dunnottar Castle.

Modern Times

In this era developed the characteristic of this area Scottish gable, also battlements were on fortified walls attached. In the 17th century dovecote was built of considerable size in the southern part of the castle.

Towards the end of the century the family Duff controlled the property and expanded the building generously around the old residential tower.

In the 1940s, the castle was in the possession of the couple Maurice and Geraldine Simpson (nee Pringle ). Geraldine Simpson was the heiress of the famous luxury clothing manufacturer, Pringle of Scotland and accordingly wealthy. So they took over after a while in addition the neighboring Muchalls Castle, in which they also moved later.

After the Simpsons Fetteresso left, the roof of the castle was removed around 1954. This was not unusual at this time a measure to save money. Because the tax policy in the UK demanded that had to be paid to each building with a roof, a so-called "property tax". So you just removed unceremoniously the roofs of its unused buildings, and the tax was invalid. The removal of the roofs also had a symbolic value, namely. Protest against this tax

A short time later bought a local landowner the castle, which he inherited after his death, the Don family. This invested a lot of money into the renovation, modernization, and not least in the facilities of the property. Fetteresso Castle is privately owned, so it is not released to the public for inspection.