Braemar Castle

In 1689 John Farquharson of Inverey attacked the castle and fire caused extensive damage. This was an episode of the first Jacobite rising, well before the government barracks familiar from its later history. Repair attempts followed, but the building remained substantially ruined into the eighteenth century. The pristine-looking exterior therefore conceals a story of interruption and rebuilding, rather than uninterrupted survival from the original construction campaign.

The Farquharsons acquired Braemar in 1732. In 1748 the government leased it for a garrison, and reconstruction gave the site much of its defensive appearance. John Adam assisted the work in his role with the Board of Ordnance. The projecting outer wall allowed the approaches to be watched from different angles, and the upper turrets were altered. The military enclosure and the seventeenth-century tower house belong to separate stages of the story.

That distinction is particularly rewarding on a slow circuit outside. Follow the outline of the low surrounding wall, then look above it to the taller house. The two forms work together visually, but their purposes and dates differ. Inside, the lower floors retain much of the barracks arrangement, while the upper rooms preserve the character of a nineteenth-century home. The route through the building moves between military organisation and private domestic life.

After the garrison period, the Farquharsons adapted the castle as a family residence. The regional archaeological record places this change in 1832, followed by further work during the middle of the century. Fireplaces, decorative plasterwork and furnished rooms belong to this continuing history of comfort and hospitality. They deserve as much attention as the iron entrance gate and vaulted spaces, which can otherwise dominate the visitor’s first impression of a castle.

Modern archaeology has added a smaller, less conspicuous detail. A watching brief in 2007 found a well or cistern between the house and its outer wall. It had been covered by a Victorian building, and may relate to the garrison period. That interpretation remains tentative, but the discovery draws attention to water supply: behind any imposing outline lay the everyday task of supporting the people who lived and worked within it.

In 2007 the local community stepped in to secure the castle’s future and protect its collection. Community stewardship remains central to the visitor attraction. This is a further chapter in the building’s use, not an attempt to return every room to a single date. Leave time for the smaller objects and household details as well as the dramatic exterior. The most revealing view of Braemar holds its different layers together: a hunting lodge, a damaged stronghold, a government barracks and a family home, now cared for through local commitment.