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Castle Grant stands a mile north of Grantown-on-Spey and was the former seat of the Clan Grant chiefs of Strathspey in Moray. Grantown-on-Spey is a small burgh in the Scottish Highlands founded in 1765, on the River Spey with a population of 3,409 [1]. It lies at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about twenty miles south east of Inverness. ...
Grant Crest Castle Grant, from rear Castle Grant, Barbies Tower Castle Grant, from front Clan Grant is a Highland Scottish clan which inhabited land in Northern Scotland since 1316, although the clan is known to have existed farther back than that. ...
Moray (Moireibh in Gaelic), one of the 32 unitary council regions (or areas) of Scotland, lies in the north-east of the country and borders on the regions of Aberdeenshire and Highland. ...
 Castle Grant, "Barbies Tower" The original tower was built in the 15th century by the Clan Comyn of Badenoch. Originally a Comyn Clan stronghold, clan traditions tell us that the castle was taken from the Comyns by a combined force of the Clan Grant and the Clan MacGregor. The Grants and MacGregors stormed the castle and in the process slew the Comyn Chief - and kept the Chief's skull as a trophy of this victory. The skull of the Comyn was taken as a macabre trophy and was kept in Castle Grant and became an heirloom of the Clan Grant. (In the late Lord Strathspey's book on the Clan, he mentions that the top of the cranium was hinged, and that he saw documents kept in it.) Clan tradition predicts grave things if the skull ever leaves the hands of the family - prophecying that the Clan would lose all of its lands in Strathspey. Image File history File links GrantCastle0. ...
Image File history File links GrantCastle0. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 803 KB) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1600x1200, 803 KB) I, the creator of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. ...
Image File history File links GrantCastle1. ...
Image File history File links GrantCastle1. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (427x627, 84 KB) Summary Grant Clan Castle Barbies Tower Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Image File history File links Download high resolution version (427x627, 84 KB) Summary Grant Clan Castle Barbies Tower Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ...
Clan Cumming is a Scottish clan from Inverness with strong Jacobite ties. ...
Grant Crest Castle Grant, from rear Castle Grant, Barbies Tower Castle Grant, from front Clan Grant is a Highland Scottish clan which inhabited land in Northern Scotland since 1316, although the clan is known to have existed farther back than that. ...
Clan MacGregor Crest: S rioghal mo dhream (My race is royal) The Clan Gregor is a Highland Scottish clan. ...
According to "Castles of Scotland", the original building was a Z-shaped tower house, typical of many that exist in Scotland from the same period, and it dates from probably around the 15th century.
Castle Grant is reputedly haunted by Barbara Grant, a daughter of the chief who died in the "Barbies Tower" in the sixteenth century after being imprisoned by her father for refusing to marry a man she did not love.
Previously named Castle Freuchie, it became the principal residence of the Grants in 1693. Despite the fact that the Grants were government supporters, the castle was occupied by Jacobites during both the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite Risings.
When "The Good Sir James" Grant (Chief from 1773-1811) set about his plans to build the town that would become "Grantown-on-Spey", there were no masons of sufficient skill to be employed in Strathspey. Sir James set up a training school for local men at Castle Grant and the modern appearance of the north face of Castle Grant is the result Grantown-on-Spey is a small burgh in the Scottish Highlands founded in 1765, on the River Spey with a population of 3,409 [1]. It lies at the northern edge of the Cairngorm mountains, about twenty miles south east of Inverness. ...
In the 1750s a massive classical extension designed by John Adam was added to the north aspect. The result reminded Queen Victoria on her visit in 1860 of a factory. Victoria Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) (24 May 1819–22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. ...
The original L-shaped tower was extended in 1765 by Sir Ludovic Grant, into the castle which remains today. The castle eventually fell into disrepair but was refurbished in the 1990s and is now a private residence.
From the south side, the origins of the castle are still evident with the four-story 15th century Comyn Tower. The impressive Grant collection of weapons, which were once housed in the castle, are now on view at Fort George. A Category A listed building, Castle Grant is now under refurbishment. Fort George is a historic military structure at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada, that was the scene of several battles during the War of 1812. ...
The castle contains dozens of rooms, one of which is a massive dining hall. While the south face of the Castle with its two extended wings protuding from it, and its large stone staircase and courtyard, make it appear to be the "front" of the castle (the side it is most often photographed from), it is actually the back! The main door in the courtyard, which looks like the front door, actually leads from the back down a long hall to the front of the castle.
Lord Strathspey described a visit to Castle Grant in 1919 "We were taken around by Colonel Grant Smith, the Strathspey 'estate factor' who had collected us from the Grant Arms hotel where we were staying. The castle entrance hall and walls were covered with weapons of all types - cannons, muskets, guns,pistols, claymores, broad swords, armour and saddle furniture, sporting guns, blunderbusses, rifles, pikes, and targes, etc. Many of these were the weapons provided by Sir James Grant for his 'Company of Fencibles', which he raised with his own money in 1793, in support of King George III, when a Napoleonic invasion was threatened. The armoury and the uniforms which were stored in the attics were considered to be one of the greatest and most unique private collections existing. Hanging from the ceiling on the stair wells were a number of very old flags sewn on netting to keep them together. Leaning on a right hand stair-post was a length of timber about the size of a short railway sleeper. I was told that this was the laird's 'hanging beam', used when Grant was a regality. On the first floor in the left wing were the drawing room and the library, and at the back, stretching across the castle, was the dining-room. All the walls were, of course, hung with a great many portraits of the Chief's family and of other Grants. In the drawing room I saw the Comyn's skull on a writing desk. Nearby, at the end of the room, was the Byfield organ, 15ft. high and 7ft. wide, which had been given to Sir James Grant by Queen Anne, together with some special glass dishes, as a token for his agreeing to give up the name and arms of Colquhoun of Luss."
During the late 20th century the castle became derelict. Dry rot had spread throughout the wooden timbers in the upper floors and attic. The late Lord Strathspey (the father of the current Chief) speculated that when soldiers were quartered in the castle in the 1940's, during World War II, that the repeated mopping of the floors (one assumes like "swabbing the deck" - a military exercise in order and cleanliness), and the constant moisture from this activity in the wood, caused a terrible dry rot to set into the timbers, which slowly demolished the upper floors of the building. It seems that many of the castles in Scotland that housed troops during this period suffered similar problems. Combatants Allied Powers: United Kingdom France Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Axis Powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Charles de Gaulle Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33...
Motto: (Latin for No one provokes me with impunity)1 Anthem: Multiple unofficial anthems Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official language(s) English, Gaelic, Scots 2 Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II - Prime Minister of the UK Tony Blair MP - First Minister Jack McConnell MSP Unification - by Kenneth I...
The castle went through a series of owners, and in the late 1990's started to be rennovated. At one point it was the target of Scottish Highlands developers who wanted to turn it into a resort. For a while it appeared it might end up back in the hands of the Clan Grant, but this deal fell through. It was acquired by new owners in November 2006. The Scottish Highlands are the mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault. ...
See also
Grant Crest Castle Grant, from rear Castle Grant, Barbies Tower Castle Grant, from front Clan Grant is a Highland Scottish clan which inhabited land in Northern Scotland since 1316, although the clan is known to have existed farther back than that. ...
Castles in Scotland is a link page for any castle in Scotland. ...
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