Balfluig Castle

About

Balfluig Castle is an L-plan tower house, dating from the mid-16th century, a mile south of Alford, in the Howe of Alford, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The tower is conspicuous throughout the Howe. It may be viewed by appointment.

History: The first owners of Balfluig were a branch of Clan Forbes. The voussoirs on the doorway show the date 1556. The castle was burned during the battle of Alford in 1645. It was purchased by the Farquharson of Haughton in 1753. In due course it was used as a farmhouse. It was derelict by the 1960s, but a new owner, Mark Tennant, restored it, as one of the earliest fortalices saved through the help of the Historic Buildings Council for Scotland, particularly through the advocacy of W. Douglas Simpson. The date of building is significant as it is in a period where there was little private building in Scotland.

Structure: The plan of the castle is highly unusual. The main block of the castle has three storeys and a garret. The wing, one storey higher and topped by a watchtower, projects eastward from the main block in a way that creates two re-entrant angles. A semicircular stair tower rises in the south-west angle. The outer angles are corbelled...