A north-east lighthouse is a surprise inclusion in a list of Scottish castles which tourists are being encouraged to visit.
VisitScotland’s castle trail programme launches today, featuring more than 300 of these iconic buildings across the country.
And, for the first time, Fraserburgh’s Kinnaird Head’s lighthouse has graced its pages on account of the locale’s unique history.
Lynda McGuigan, the business manager at the Museum of Scottish Lighthouses, which cares for the attraction, had encouraged the tourism body to add the lighthouse.
And last night, Michael Strachan, the collections manager at the museum, explained that the port’s beacon was built upon the castle of Alexander Fraser, the founder of the town.
He said: “The mock-fortified castle was his main residence until his death in 1623, after which the castle was used as a town house.”
The castle itself was built in 1570.
But, as Mr Strachan added: “In 1715, it became the designated dowager’s house, the residence of Margaret Fraser, daughter of the infamous Archbishop of St Andrews.
“The castle was abandoned in the 1760s, later being acquired by the trustees of the Northern Lighthouse Board and converted into their first lighthouse in 1787.”
It was subsequently rebuilt in the 1820s and has remained almost unchanged. However, the light was retired in 1991 when a new lighthouse was erected nearby.
It currently houses items from former lighthouse keepers and forms part of an extensive tour of Kinnaird Head’s grounds.
The Scottish architect, academic and writer, William Simpson, once described Kinnaird Head’s castle a part of the “nine castles of the Knuckle”, a collection of ancient fortifications found in the Buchan area of Scotland.
The “Knuckle” refers to the rocky headland in the north-east of Aberdeenshire.
The other eight castles are Cairnbulg, Dundarg, Inverallochy, Lonmay, Pitsligo, Pittulie, Rattray, and the Winetower – near Kinnaird Head.
