Edzell Castle

The first castle at Edzell was a timber motte and bailey structure, built to guard the mouth of Glenesk, a strategic pass leading north into the Highlands. The motte, or mound, is still visible 300 m south-west of the present castle, and dates from the 12th century. It was the seat of the Abbott, or Abbe, family, and was the centre of the now-vanished original village of Edzell. The Abbotts were succeeded as lords of Edzell by the Stirlings of Glenesk, and the Stirlings in turn by the Lindsays. In 1358, Sir Alexander de Lindsay, third son of David Lindsay of Crawford, married the Stirling heiress, Katherine Stirling. Alexander's son, David, was created Earl of Crawford in 1398. Edzell…

To complement the garden, a bath house and summer house were constructed at the corners of the garden furthest from the castle. The bath house is ruined, but the two-storey summer house survives intact. It comprises a groin-vaulted lower room, with an upper chamber, containing the only surviving example of the castle's carved-oak wall panelling. Charles McKean attributes the design and construction of the garden buildings to Thomas Leiper, an Aberdeenshire stonemason, based on the elaborately decorated gun holes in the summer house. The planting was recreated in the 1930s. No original plan of the renaissance garden survives, although records show fruit was grown in the 17th century.

The motte, still known as Castlehillock, is the only remainder of the first Edzell Castle. It lies 300m south-west of the later castle, by a bend in the West Water, and comprises a low, partially natural mound. The motte is aligned north-west to south-east, and is around 36 m long by 16 m across at its broadest point, and around 4 m high. An outer bailey, or courtyard, up to 61 m across formerly surrounded the motte, and was bordered by a deep ditch.