Forter Castle
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- Date:
- 1560
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Forter Castle
Forter Castle was built at a time when marauding bands of Caterans would raid the settlements in the glens and steal livestock. In addition, this was a time of religious tensions with attempts to supplant the Catholic religion by Protestantism and these religious differences led to clan feuds, notably between the Ogilvy and Argyll families. The Ogilvys refused to relinquish their Catholic faith.
James Ogilvy, 5th Lord of Airlie, built Forter Castle in 1560 as a fortified house or fortalice to protect the entrance to the Balloch Pass to Glenshee and the Moneca Pass to Braemar and the north. In 1639 James Ogilvy’s grandson James Ogilvy, 7th Lord of Airlie, was named 1st Earl of Airlie by King Charles II.
The Ogilvys refused to relinquish their Catholic faith, and, when in 1640, James Ogilvie refused to sign the National Covenant, Forter Castle was burned down by Archibald Campbell, 8th Earl of Argyll. The ballad ‘ The Bonnie Hoose o’ Airlie ’recalls the feud between the Ogilvys and the Argylls.
Forter Castle lay in ruin for the next 350 years, until, in 1988, it was bought by businessman Robert Pooley. Over the next two years it underwent a full restoration.
Now owned by his daughter Katharine Pooley, Forter Castle may be rented on a self-catering basis.
The castle sits within the Cairngorms National Park and is Category B listed by Historic Environment Scotland. For more about Forter Castle visit:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forter_Castle
For more about the feud between the Ogilvys and Argylls visit https://www.electricscotland.com/history/wars/154LordsAirlieAndArgyle.pdf https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bonnie_House_of_Airlie