Qualla: Kildrummy Castle https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:25 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Kildrummy Castle https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle Kildrummy Castle: Introduction https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle/ Photo credit Ikiwaner, CC BY-SA 3.0. In 1538, John Strachan, the young laird of Lenturk, raided Kildrummy Castle. He took the furnishings and fixtures, brought a blacksmith to strip the ironwork from every window and door, and had some of the metal turned into horseshoes and ploughshares at the nearby village of Glenbuchat. It is a perfect summary of what happened to medieval Scotland's great castles: the grand reduced to the practical, the fortress dismantled to shoe a horse. Kildrummy, near the village of the same name in Aberdeenshire, was once one of the most formidable castles in eastern Scotland -- the seat of the Earls of Mar, besieged by English kings and Scottish rebels, a stronghold that changed hands through treachery, marriage, murder, and Act of Parliament.

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Image: Ikiwaner | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/gfjv-kildrummy-castle-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Kildrummy Castle: A Castle Shaped Like a Shield https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle/ Photo credit HARTLEPOOLMARINA2014, CC BY-SA 4.0. Built probably in the mid-13th century under Gilbert de Moravia, Kildrummy Castle occupied a site chosen for its command of the ancient trackways crossing the Grampian Mounth -- the mountain passes linking the Scottish lowlands to the northeast. The castle is shield-shaped in pla...

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Image: HARTLEPOOLMARINA2014 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/gfjv-kildrummy-castle-a-castle-shaped-like-a-shield.mp3 0:06 2 full Kildrummy Castle: Betrayal and the Bruce Women https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle/ Photo credit ronnie leask, CC BY-SA 2.0. Kildrummy's most dramatic siege came in 1306, during the Wars of Scottish Independence. Robert the Bruce, newly crowned and in desperate straits, sent his wife, daughter, sisters, and brother Nigel Bruce to Kildrummy for safety while he fled west. The castle held out through Augu...

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Image: ronnie leask | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/gfjv-kildrummy-castle-betrayal-and-the-bruce-women.mp3 0:06 3 full Kildrummy Castle: Murder, Marriage, and the Crown https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle/ Photo credit HARTLEPOOLMARINA2014, CC BY-SA 4.0. The castle passed through a succession of keepers and owners whose methods ranged from administrative to violent. In 1403, Alexander Stewart murdered Sir Malcolm Drummond and seized his widow, Isabel Douglas, Countess of Mar, along with her title and Kildrummy itself. James I too...

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Image: HARTLEPOOLMARINA2014 | CC BY-SA 4.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/gfjv-kildrummy-castle-murder-marriage-and-the-crown.mp3 0:06 4 full Kildrummy Castle: Gardens in the Quarry https://qualla.com/kildrummy-castle/ Photo credit Mihael Grmek, CC BY-SA 3.0. The castle was given into the care of the Ministry of Works in 1951 and is now managed by Historic Environment Scotland. Archaeological excavations in 1925 uncovered decorative stone flooring and evidence of the battles that had raged within its walls. Most of the foundations and...

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Image: Mihael Grmek | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/f/j/v/kildrummy-castle-wp/gfjv-kildrummy-castle-gardens-in-the-quarry.mp3 0:06 5 full