Huntly Castle: A North Scotland Stronghold - Stories of Scotland Podcast - Episode 99

Join Annie and Jenny as they delve into the vast history of Huntly Castle.

The now ruinous Aberdeenshire castle dates back to the 12th century when William the Lion entrusted the MacDuffs with controlling the rebellious area. The motte and bailey castle, then called the Peel Strathbogie, was in the MacDuff’s hands for many tumultuous decades which included catastrophic crusades, brutal beheadings, and fatal flip-floppery. Eventually, the Strathbogies blew it and were wiped from their castle by Robert the Bruce, who subsequently gave it to the Gordon Family.

The Gordon’s quickly set about changing the castle’s questionable name to Huntly Castle and architecturally revitalising it into something never before seen in Scotland. Over the centuries the Gordons amassed huge amounts of power and influence, but power has funny ways of collapsing, especially when on the Catholic side of the reformation. In the Gordon’s case their Catholicism has strange and spooky consequences which, thanks to contemporary sources, have reverberated through history to the modern day.

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