01 / From timber stronghold to stone palace
The Gordons inherit Strathbogie
Huntly began under another name. Around 1190, Duncan, Earl of Fife, received Strathbogie after serving William I in his struggle against the MacWilliams of Moray. He probably built the first castle here, guarding the meeting of two rivers. Its motte, the raised earth platform for the principal stronghold, survives as a grassy mound beside the later buildings.
The family lost its lands after backing the defeated side at Bannockburn in 1314. Robert the Bruce granted Strathbogie to his supporter Sir Adam Gordon, whose own Huntly lay in Berwickshire. The new owners brought the name north and grew into one of the region’s dominant families.
By the middle of the fifteenth century the Gordons held an earldom and were building a grander residence. George, the fourth earl, remodelled the palace in the 1550s. The changing outline is still readable: earthwork, tower house and impressive domestic range, each expressing a different stage of the family’s authority.
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02 / Power expressed in stone
Names written across the skyline
The palace’s most striking decoration belongs to another George Gordon: the sixth earl, who became the first Marquis of Huntly. After destruction ordered by James VI in 1594, the family rebuilt with conspicuous confidence. The great inscription across the south front names George and his wife Henrietta Stewart, declaring their status high above anyone approaching.
Double-height projecting windows make the frontage unusually elegant. The elaborate entrance and carved fireplaces bring family identity, royal allegiance and Catholic belief into the same building. HES’s architectural assessment cautions against assigning every feature a simple origin: even the construction date of the great round tower remains debated.
The damage also speaks. Covenanters defaced much of the religious imagery in 1640, leaving physical traces of the conflict surrounding the Gordons’ faith. Give the carvings time. A broken figure, a surviving emblem or a name cut into stone can reveal something of the pressures beneath this magnificent display.
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03 / Looking past the noble names
The work that kept the palace alive
Huntly’s grand rooms depended on a busy household. Historic Scotland’s education guide draws attention to the kitchen’s practical details: the broad hearth, a channel bringing fresh water from the courtyard and another for carrying dirty water away. These small survivals help turn an empty room back into a place where meals had to be prepared every day.
The steward managed servants and collected rents. One room is interpreted as his possible working and sleeping space, although that identification remains a suggestion. The guide also explains the separate lodgings used by lord and lady. Rank shaped the routes through the building, deciding who could reach a hall, a chamber or a more private room.
Look for such relationships wherever the visitor route allows. A drain tells a different story from a heraldic shield; a stair connects household service with the rooms above. Both belong to the same castle. Thinking about movement, water, food and responsibility makes the vanished inhabitants easier to picture without having to invent their conversations.
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04 / The reported events of 1576
Noises from the empty chamber
The account preserved in Richard Bannatyne’s Memorials begins with an ordinary afternoon turning abruptly frightening. The earl fell while playing football, struggled back towards the castle and was carried to bed. He died that evening. In the following days, several men reportedly collapsed and complained of intense cold before recovering.
The narrative then follows Patrick Gordon, the earl’s brother. Sitting near the chamber where the body had been prepared, he heard a disturbance inside. John Hamilton said the room was empty. Patrick entered, with Hamilton following briefly, and heard the noise again without seeing its source. Daylight was fading. The men withdrew; later, a search by candlelight found nothing, but the noise resumed when they returned to the doorway.
The text itself leaves the sound uncertain: speech, groaning or rumbling. A warning followed that rumours would spread of the earl rising again. This is the unsettling centre of Huntly’s recorded tradition: a frightened household, an apparently empty room and an experience reaching us through a written account, rather than an identified apparition.
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05 / How the story reached us
A valuable account with a human viewpoint
In her examination of the story for HES, Rachel Pickering asks who recorded it and how they learned of it. Bannatyne lived at the same time as the earl, but the report reached him through other people. His connection with John Knox and Protestant reform also matters when reading about a prominent Catholic family.
The manuscript was transcribed and published by Robert Pitcairn in 1836. This gives the account a traceable place in the record, while leaving questions about its details. Pickering identifies a moral argument about loyalty, religion and wrongdoing in its conclusion.
The narrative also helps historians understand the palace before later alterations. Its value does not depend on resolving every sound. We can recognise the fear described, examine the storyteller’s standpoint and leave the cause open. A definite medical or supernatural diagnosis would go beyond the surviving evidence.
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06 / Beyond the tall palace
The quieter traces around the courtyard
The palace dominates photographs, but the lower remains make Huntly a much larger story. The council’s historic environment record identifies service buildings around the courtyard, including a brewhouse and bakehouse, with a later stable range to the east. These were the spaces that supported the residence and its visitors.
Beyond the eastern frontage, an earthwork belonged to a different sort of preparation. This was a ravelin, a detached defensive position surrounded by a ditch, built during the Civil War. Its practical military purpose sits beside the palace’s rich decoration: hospitality and defence were never far apart here.
The ground continues to yield clues. Small excavations in 2014 found evidence of changing ground levels and an infilled ditch; a later geophysical survey suggested possible buried walls, drains and a route or ditch. Those interpretations remain provisional. The record also notes 136 masons’ marks representing 46 masons. Together, visible stonework and buried traces remind us how many hands helped make this place.
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07 / Planning your visit
Check the open areas before you travel
Huntly Castle is a ticketed HES attraction on Castle Avenue, a short walk from the town centre. On 15 September 2026, most of the site remained accessible, but the round tower was closed. Storm damage had also left the castle without public toilets. Check the official page again before setting out and plan facilities into your day.
The published April–September hours are daily, 10am–4.30pm, with last entry an hour before closing. From October to March, opening is 10am–3.30pm on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday; last entry is 45 minutes earlier. The castle closes from 24 December to 4 January. Book through HES for current tickets and notices.
Ground-level areas include gravel, cobbles, ramps and some steps. The palace has substantial stair access, so discuss individual mobility needs before travelling. Wear shoes suited to uneven surfaces and follow the marked route. Allow yourself time to pause at the carvings and lower ruins as well as the main frontage.
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Prepared for Scottish Paranormal / Haunted Scotland.
Sources and visitor information reviewed 15 September 2026.
