Lauriston Castle (1)
Nobody home when I called here, so only two photos, both from the drive.
Lauriston Castle is in Aberdeenshire these days, although it used to be in Kincardineshire, before the redrawing of the country boundaries (it has never been Edinburgh, although there is a fine castle of the same name there). It stands just over a mile inland from the sea, a mile and a half north-east of Saint Cyrus.
The site here is a strong one, with a deep den or ravine cutting around the west side. There has been a castle here for a VERY long time. Lauriston’s first charter is dated 1243 and the courtyard castle that was built here was savagely fought over during Scotland's Wars of Independence. Later it was strengthened by King Edward III of England in 1336, as part of the chain of Plantagenet strongholds which he hoped would prevent a French landing in support of the Scots. However the site may have been of great importance long before that, because by tradition, this was the site of the stronghold of Grig or Gregory the Great, one of the last of the Pictish kings (AD 878–889). The site of his church of Ecclesgreig (Eglise Grig) is nearby and his Latinised name, Ciricius, is where the name St. Cyrus comes from.
So all very interesting but the buildings we see here are obviously more recent than that - much much more recent as it turns out!
Lauriston Castle (1)
Nobody home when I called here, so only two photos, both from the drive.
Lauriston Castle is in Aberdeenshire these days, although it used to be in Kincardineshire, before the redrawing of the country boundaries (it has never been Edinburgh, although there is a fine castle of the same name there). It stands just over a mile inland from the sea, a mile and a half north-east of Saint Cyrus.
The site here is a strong one, with a deep den or ravine cutting around the west side. There has been a castle here for a VERY long time. Lauriston’s first charter is dated 1243 and the courtyard castle that was built here was savagely fought over during Scotland's Wars of Independence. Later it was strengthened by King Edward III of England in 1336, as part of the chain of Plantagenet strongholds which he hoped would prevent a French landing in support of the Scots. However the site may have been of great importance long before that, because by tradition, this was the site of the stronghold of Grig or Gregory the Great, one of the last of the Pictish kings (AD 878–889). The site of his church of Ecclesgreig (Eglise Grig) is nearby and his Latinised name, Ciricius, is where the name St. Cyrus comes from.
So all very interesting but the buildings we see here are obviously more recent than that - much much more recent as it turns out!