The Castle Tour – Episode 2

Let’s start with a wee gander.

Crathes Castle is a 16th century castle near Banchory that sits on land given to the Burnett of Leys family by King Robert the Bruce in 1323. It was held in that family for almost 400 years. Construction of the current tower house of Crathes Castle was begun in 1553.

This is a “harled” castle, which refers to an exterior building-surfacing technique when a pigment is embedded in the harled material, thus alleviating the need for repainting and results in a long-lasting weatherproof shield for a stone building.

The Muses’ Room

The Scottish Renaissance painted ceiling in the Muses’ Room is truly amazing. Katherine Burnett’s coat of arms in the center of the ceiling indicates that is was Lady Katherine’s work room. The seven virtues would be better known today as the seven deadly sins.

Your Day In Court

The Laird, who had the power of “the Pit and the Gallows”, sat at this table with his scribe to his left. Prisoners were led in through a steel door hidden in the alcove on the far right. The accused would stand in front of the desk directly under the Coat of Arms which compelled them to speak nothing but the truth, although it was indicated to me that when you got this far your fate was pretty much sealed. After the verdict was read you were lead to either the pit, the dungeon, or to the gallows.

Grounds & Gardens

The grounds are truly amazing. A small army of committed gardeners work year round maintaining the separate walled gardens. Ancient topiary hedges of Irish yew, that date from 1702, are used to define the eight themed areas.

 

Scottish Humor

The guide in the Laid’s bedchamber showed us a small cupboard that served as the toilet. Of course, with no running water, it was essentially a bucket on the floor. He asked if there were any Englishmen present. A  young couple proudly said yes and then the guide explained that the English had invented the toilet seat, but the Scots had improved it. “Aye, we put a hole in the top”.

Have A Mint

In the 1960’s Rohays Burnett was paid £1000 to appear in an ad for After Eight chocolate mints. The photograph was taken at Crathes Castle. The finished ad appeared in Reader’s Digest with the tagline “No girl should resist temptation”. The advertisement was pulled when the  headmistress of one of the country’s leading private girl’s schools complained that the ad was a bad influence on her girls and completely inappropriate coming from Rowntrees, a Quaker company.

Antique Roadshow Comes To Town

We made it to Crathes Castle just in time to take part in the Antique Roadshow. We feel very fortunate as this was the only show in Scotland this year. There were a lot of people but it never felt overcrowded.

The appraisers couldn’t have been nicer and never rushed people along. If they come to your neighborhood be sure to go.

Side Note:

Wendi attempted to Photo Bomb the filming crew every chance she got, so when this episode airs be sure to watch for her 5 seconds of fame.