meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Stories of Scotland

Huntly Castle: A North Scotland Stronghold

Stories of Scotland

Annie and Jenny

History, Places & Travel, Society & Culture

4.8728 Ratings

🗓️ 27 July 2023

⏱️ 61 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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 ins@uhi.ac.uk 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 Get bonus content on Patreon

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Imagine sweeping through green fields, floating five feet above ground, sun on your face as you slide by on track to your destination.

0:11.1

Not a care in the world as you simply lean back and before you know it, you're there.

0:16.7

Travel by train from London to Liverpool from just 25 pounds.

0:20.8

Avanti West Coast.

0:22.2

Feel good travel.

0:23.8

Exclusions and limitations apply.

0:25.6

Full terms and conditions can be founded at avantiwestcoast.com.

0:28.0

com.com.com. Hello and welcome to Stories of Scotland, a Scottish History and Folklore podcast.

0:47.8

I'm Jenny, your ghostly tour guide, and just so no tipping is expected.

0:52.6

And I'm Annie, your medieval baker.

0:56.0

Today we are visiting a marvellous monument, Huntley Castle.

1:00.7

This ruined structure sits in Aberdeenshire in the north of Scotland

1:05.4

and I visited it just a couple of weeks ago in beautiful sunshine with a friend.

1:12.0

Huntley Castle has a rich heritage and an exceptionally eventful history.

1:18.1

Huntley itself is a great town to visit, especially for tourists.

1:22.1

There's a large shortbread centre that will meet all of your buttery biscuit requirements,

1:26.9

and there's a good few

1:28.2

distilleries in the vicinity and I have to say spaceide whiskeys are my favourite because they're

1:33.5

the lightest on my little palate. At the castle itself there's a sign that says this is not really

1:40.4

one building but rather the site is a story of three castles or four castles,

1:48.8

depending on how you count your castles.

1:51.4

Now that's because there are multiple different layers of architecture from multiple different time periods.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Annie and Jenny, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Annie and Jenny and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.