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The ruined walls of Pitsligo Castle standing over a green lawn.
Aberdeenshire

Pitsligo Castle

The ruined castle of the Jacobite lords of Pitsligo, a short walk up from Rosehearty harbour.

Welcome

Pitsligo Castle stands a few hundred yards inland from Rosehearty, a ruined tower begun by the Fraser family in 1424 and greatly enlarged by the Forbes family in 1570.

It was a Forbes, Sir Alexander, later the first Lord Pitsligo, who built Rosehearty up as a fishing port in the 1630s, taking a fifth of everything landed there.

The Forbes lords were staunch Jacobites, and after Culloden they lost their lands and their titles. Government soldiers ransacked the castle, and it slowly fell to ruin. In 1989 the American publisher Malcolm Forbes bought the estate and made the walls safe, and since the mid-1990s the castle has been in the care of a charitable trust.

What remains is roofless and weathered, big walls standing among farmland with the sea beyond, and it is free to wander round. It is an easy walk up from the harbour and back, and Pittulie Castle, another ruin of this coast, is close by.

Close byRosehearty HarbourOne of the oldest seaports in Scotland, now a quiet harbour of small boats and rocky shore.2 min by roadSee itSmall boats in Rosehearty harbour at low water, the breakwater behind.
Before you go

A few hundred yards up from Rosehearty harbour.

Free to wander.

Where
Rosehearty.
Entry
Free.
Where it is

Rosehearty.

Close byAround Rosehearty.
  1. The orange lifeboat moored in Sandhaven harbour below the village.Sandhaven Meal MillAn early nineteenth-century meal mill on the Buchan coast with every piece of its machinery intact.3 miles5 min by road
  2. Afternoon tea on a lace cloth in the Nooks & Crannies courtyard.Nooks & Crannies5 miles9 min by road
  3. The Wine Tower on its rock above the sea at Kinnaird Head.Kinnaird Head Castle and The Wine Tower5 miles10 min by road
  4. Stone tower on a rocky headland, seen beyond rooftop chimneysMuseum of Scottish Lighthouses5 miles10 min by road
  5. Dark rocks and reef along the shore at Aberdour Beach, the sea beyond.New Aberdour BeachA beach below the cliffs down a winding lane, with sea caves, an arch and St Drostan's Well.6 miles13 min by road
Directions
Small boats in Rosehearty harbour at low water, the breakwater behind.AttractionsRosehearty Harbour0.6 miles
The Water of Philorth winding through dunes and salt marsh to the sea.WalksWaters of Philorth7.1 miles
Boat named Pennan rests on the shore beside whitewashed cottagesAttractionsPennan8.7 miles
The whitewashed row of Pennan below the cliffs, the red phone box by the inn.RestaurantsThe Pennan Inn8.9 miles
Woman standing beside the Coastal Cuppie kiosk with its chalkboard menuCafeCoastal Cuppie9.0 miles
A road running between green fields beside the golf course at Inverallochy.WalksInverallochy and Whitelinks Bay9.3 miles
Narrow rocky gorge with moss-covered floor cutting through grassy hillsideAttractionsHell’s Lum near Cullykhan Bay9.7 miles
Grassy headlands enclose a small sandy beach with gentle wavesAttractionsCullykhan Bay9.7 miles
The blue front of Strichen Antiques under its sign.ShoppingStrichen Antiques10 miles
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