Fedderate Castle

Fedderate Castle is a ruined castle near New Deer in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, dating to around 1474 and built by the Crawford family. It was extended by the family in 1519.^[1][2] A drawbridge and causeway provided access to the castle.^[3] The walls are up to 30 feet (9.1 m) tall and 6 feet (1.8 m) thick.

Fedderate Castle
New Deer, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Fedderate Castle
Site information
Type	L-Plan
Condition	Ruined
Location
Coordinates	57.5386°N 2.1739°W / 57.5386; -2.1739
Site history
Built	1257–15th century
Scheduled monument
Official name	Fedderate Castle
Type	Secular: castle
Designated	14 March 1994
Reference no.	SM5951

History

On 15 December 1590, Robert Keith, the youngest brother of George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal, fled to Fedderate Castle after being dislodged from Deer Abbey, which he had seized the previous September in the course of a dispute over his inheritance.^[4]

Lord William Oliphant with Jacobite forces took control of Fedderate Castle and held out against the forces of Hugh Mackay for more than three weeks, surrendering in October 1690.^[1]

The castle is a scheduled monument.^[5] Its condition is the result of an attempt to blow up the structure, before its historic designation, "as an impediment to agriculture".^[1]