10 Best Facts about Craigievar Castle

Image by Alan Stokes from Wikimedia

10 Best Facts about Craigievar Castle

Craigievar Castle stands on the west side of a valley in the countryside that forms the eastern foothills of the Cairngorms. 

It was the seat of  SempillClan.

the National Trust for Scotland took over the property after 350 years of  Forbes family occupation.  William Forbes-Sempill, 19th Lord Sempill in the 1960s oversaw the handover.

If ever a Scottish castle deserved the moniker ‘fairy tale’, it is Craigievar.

The proliferation of towers and turrets that spring from the earlier foundations of this fortified house is magical.

The Craigievar Castle is a tower ‘house’ rather than a castle in the traditional sense.

In fact, rumour has it that Walt Disney used Craigievar as the model for the Disney castle

The history of Craigievar goes back to at least the 14th century. The Mortimer family held the estate since 1376, but it was not until 1575 that Sir John Mortimer began the process of transforming the house into the impressive residence we see today.

Sir John was rising in society and he wanted a house that befitted his rank of baron. Below are the 10 best facts about Craigievar Castle.

1.  Scotland’s Best Preserved Tower House

Image by Alan Stokes from Wikimedia

Scotland is awash with castles, but there is something unique about Craigievar.

It is Scotland’s most authentic tower house, widely recognised as one of the best-preserved.

In 1824 Sir John Forbes, who had inherited the castle the previous year on the death of his older brother, commissioned Aberdeen architect John Smith to report on the condition of Craigievar.

His report highlighted the need for a new roof and new harling, but noted that the castle was “well worth being preserved as it is one of the finest specimens of architecture in this Country of the age and stile in which it is built, and finely situated.”

It is a fine example of Scottish Baronial architecture contains fine family portraits and a superb collection of 20th-century ceramics, including pieces by Michael Cardew, Hans Coper, Bernard Leach and Lucy Rie.

One of the things that set Craigievar apart is how modestly sized many of the rooms are.

2. No Artificial Light in the Upper Floors

Image Internet Archive Book Images from Wikimedia

The former owner wished no artificial light to be installed on the upper floors.

There’s no artificial lighting on the upper floors, so you wander through the exhibits.

 The castle’s stunning and extensive collection of historic artefacts and art is seen in the shifting light from the sun as it was many years ago.

What this means is that you will be able to view it all just as it would have been in the 16^th Century.

Craigievar was used to house and protect his valuable objects such as grain and stores.

Today’s visitor finds an interior that probably looks very much as it did when the castle was visited by Victoria and Albert in 1879.

There is no electricity in the castle above the ground floor, so you really get a sense of how dark the rooms would have been. Imagine what would it be like in the depths of a Scottish winter.

3. Craigievar Castle Inspired Disney’s Cinderella Castle

Image by aliwigle from Pixabay

 Walt Disney was inspired by this beautiful Scottish 16th-century pink castle.

There’s something about the fact that Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire is pink that makes it conjure fairy-tale visions.

 Or maybe it’s that it’s taller than it is wide: think “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!” Either way, it’s an enchanting sight when you first spot it from a distance and do a double-take at its colour.

The finely sculpted multiple turrets, ornate corbels and carved stonework that even attracted Queen Victoria were the muse.

The stunning Craigievar Castle, near Alford, Aberdeenshire, is believed to be the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

The fairy tale castle features as the centre point of the company’s logo and two of its world-famous theme parks.

Discover the beautiful pink castle said to be the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle.

4. Craigievar Castle’s Fame Lies in its Colour

Image by Nick Bramhall from Wikimedia

It obviously isn’t very common to see a pink castle anywhere, so people flock from all over the world just to get a glimpse of this intriguing pink castle.

It was given its distinguishable pink colour by a man of the name of John Forbes who painted it in 1824.

Since then, it has become somewhat of a statement piece and the entire reason that this castle is so famous.

To this day, there is not a single castle like it in the entire world.

5. The Craigievar Castle was the first to get its own 3D Instagram Filter app

Conservation charity the National Trust for Scotland and Lidl GB have teamed up to create the app which allows the castle to be superimposed into the users “real-world environment anywhere in the world” via their smartphones.

Users can summon up the castle in an instant on their smartphone or tablet, via the face filter on Lidl’s Instagram, or by using a QR code, found within The Lidl Book of Big Adventures booklet

The lifelike “sensory projection” appears on their screens and can be placed anywhere in the real world.

Moving the phone around, the castle can be seen from every angle.

The AR filter was conceived during the coronavirus pandemic to allow visitors to experience the Aberdeenshire castle, which was closed, in an innovative way.

Hundreds of images were then combined to build the model, which was then used to craft the 3D Instagram filter.

6. Craigievar Castle had a Hidden Chapel during the Reformation Period

Image by Stanley Howe from Wikimedia

The initial tower house was plain, rising in straight lines to the height of the current 4th storey.

The staunchly Catholic Mortimers built a chapel into their new home, but being no fools, they disguised the nature of the chapel so that no trace of it could be seen from outside;

A wise move for the turbulent years of the late 16th century, when the passions aroused by the Reformation were at their fullest.

The Reformation led to the reformulation of certain basic tenets of Christian belief and resulted in the division of Western Christendom between Roman Catholicism and the new Protestant traditions.

7.  The Castle has a Resident Ghost

Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

One of the most famous descendants of Danzig Willie to leave his mark on Craigievar was ‘Red’ Sir John, his grandson, whose moniker referred both to his red hair and his violent disposition.

Red Sir John was said to be responsible for Craigievar’s resident ghost.

According to the tale by the friendly guides, Sir John’s daughter fell in love with a young member of the Gordon family, old enemies of the Forbes clan.

The young man came to call on his love, climbing to the Blue Bedroom on the fourth floor, only to be met by Red Sir John.

The enraged father put a sword to the young man’s throat and forced him to leap from the window. The fall was too great, and the young man died.

Ever since, according to the tales, ghostly footsteps can be heard, crossing the Blue Room to the window behind the bed.

8. Even Queen Victoria could not Resist the Pink Hue

Image by PaulHampshire from Pixabay

It is the pink hue of the castle’s exterior that made it popular, drawing the attention of people from places far and wide and making it a tourist attraction as its probably one of the most Instagram friendly castles in the world!

Over the years, many people came to visit the pink castle, one visitor who didn’t need to travel far was Queen Victoria, whose own castle at Balmoral was only just over 20 miles in Cairngorms National Park.

The royal visitor turned up unannounced on the afternoon of 18 June 1879 and, according to Victoria’s journal, on finding no one at home, she simply wandered around this “strange and curious old castle” until the residents were alerted to her presence and returned to greet her.

9. Craigievar Castle is Owned by National Trust  for Scotland

Though Cragievar Castle has previously had many owners, it now remains the property of the National Trust for Scotland.

It was in 1963 that the Forbes family donated the estate to the National Trust for Scotland, and it was at that point that it completely took over the operation of the estate.

Since the year 1990, the estate has been a Listed building of the Aberdeenshire Council.

Visitors are taken on a guided tour of about 45 minutes that visits all of the rooms on the castle’s 5 floors, although access to the roof is not possible.

In order to avoid the sheer volume of visitors causing damage as happened in the past, access is by guided tour only since the castle reopened and group size has been strictly limited to 10 persons.

10. Craigievar’s Castle was Among the first Castle’s to have a Moulded Plaster Ceiling

Image by Storye book from Wikimedia

Elegant pink tower built in the Scottish Baronial style. Property was lived in until the 1960s, so has a quirky blend of cosy interiors and rare antiquities within the ancient walls.

Highlights include the Great Hall and intricate 17th-century plasterwork on the ceilings. Another of the glories of Craigievar Castle is the ornate moulded plaster ceilings.

These date back to 1624 and were some of the first in Scotland: until then it had been traditional simply to paint the structure of the wooden beams and flooring above, as can be seen at Crathes Castle, 14 miles to the south-east.

The first plaster ceilings in Scotland were introduced in Edinburgh Castle in 1617: and a single team of plasterers then worked at Kellie Castle in 1617 and Glamis Castle in 1620 before moving on to Craigievar.

Craigievar Castle is especially interesting because it remained in the same ownership for 350 years, and most of its original features and contents are still intact. 

William Forbes built the house in 1626 and his descendants continued to live in it until 1963.