Barra Castle is located in the Garioch district of Aberdeenshire beside B9170 road that leads from Inverurie to Meldrum. It is about two miles, or three kilometres, south of the village of Meldrum (called Oldmeldrum on modern maps but “Meldrum” to its inhabitants). Although called a castle, correctly Barra Castle is a fortalice or fortified house. It was built originally in the early 1200s and was then the seat of the King family who served as lairds of the surrounding Barra Estate. It served that purpose until 1596, when the Kings were forced to leave.
Since 1600 the castle has been home to several families, recently the Ramsay family whose later generations the Bogdans made major renovations in the 1970s. The current owners are Sir David and Lady Sarah Stephen, who live in the castle and operate a produce shop and a wedding venue onsite. The Stephens also renovated the castle more recently.
A Scottish fortified house
The castle has been renovated several times and stands now as a fine example of a Scottish fortified house, or fortalice. For defence, there are no windows or doors other than the main door at ground level. The plan of the castle is a variation on the L-plan, with the main block of the castle lying north to south. There is a circular tower at the south-west. A D-plan tower at the south-east, corbelled square at the top to give a watch room, links to a large square wing. At its north-west angle, this wing has a second circular tower. The castle’s entrance is in the main re-entrant angle: it contains the entrance door and main stair, which has a trip-step for defence. The towers have conical roofs. The main gables are crow stepped.
The buildings around the courtyard are three storeys high and built of pinned boulder rubble. This type of construction has stood the test of time. All additions made over the centuries have copied the original so that the castle today looks as if it was all built at the same time. The older parts of the structure date from the early 13th century, when Barra Castle was built to be the seat of the King family. These older parts include the kitchen which still has the large stone open fireplace at which the King ancestors would have warmed their hands in the 1200s.
Fine symbol of Scots history
Barra Castle has been acclaimed by many historians and architects. Nigel Tranter, the Scottish historian of the twentieth century, wrote in his book on Scottish fortified houses, “Barra is assuredly one of the most attractive of the lesser castles of this great country”. From the 1940s on, Mrs. Mhaire Bogdan (née Ramsay) lived in Barra Castle. Her eldest son Nicholas was an architect and he lived in Barra Castle all his life, from 1947 until 2002. Nicholas undertook extensive restoration of the castle to make it a comfortable family home.
Sir David and Lady Sarah Stephen who live there now renovated the castle further when they took over and they developed the barn as a glamorous wedding venue with B&B accommodation. Thanks to their care, Barra Castle will go into the 21st and succeeding centuries as the fine symbol of Scots history that it is.
Text by: Wade King
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