Huntly Castle: A North Scotland Stronghold

Join Annie and Jenny as they delve into the vast history of Huntly Castle. The now ruinous Aberdeenshire castle dates back to the 12th century when William the Lion entrusted the MacDuffs with controlling the rebellious area. The motte and bailey castle, then called the Peel Strathbogie, was in the MacDuff’s hands for many tumultuous decades which included catastrophic crusades, brutal beheadings, and fatal flip-floppery. Eventually the Strathbogies blew it and were wiped from their castle by Robert the Bruce, who subsequently gave it to the Gordon family.The Gordons quickly set about changing the castle’s questionable name to Huntly Castle and architecturally revitalising it into something never before seen in Scotland. Over the centuries the Gordons amassed huge amounts of power and influence, but power has funny ways of collapsing, especially when on the Catholic side of the Reformation. In the Gordon’s case their Catholicism has strange and spooky consequences which, thanks to contemporary sources, have reverberated through history to the modern day. For more information from our advertisers, on the UHI Culture and Heritage BA Hons course, contact [email protected] or visit https://www.uhi.ac.uk/en/courses/ba-hons-culture-and-heritage/It’s an internationally accredited course from the University of the Highlands and Islands, available as an online course, learn on your own schedule from a yacht in the ocean, the top of a mountain or your spare bedroom! You can get a degree covering the language, heritage, archaeology, literature, landscape, identity, folklore and magic of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.Independently made in the Highlands, Stories of Scotland is gratefully funded through listener support on Patreon. www.patreon.com/storiesofscotland

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